On May 15, 2013, The Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) has announced the appointment of Sophie Galaise as new Chief Executive Officer.

We would like to highlight the terrific success of Sophie Galaise who graduated from McGill HEC Montreal EMBA program in 2012. In announcing her appointment, Greg Wanchap, Chair of the QSO, explained that her experience as Executive Director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and her excellent reputation on the international scene, made her the best person to overcome QSO’s new challenges.

Sophie, the EMBA McGill HEC Montreal family wish you lots of success in your new position and a great time in Australia!

Read the official press release

Read the Arts Hub

The McGill HEC Montreal EMBA team is very happy to share this good news!

Florin, we truly wish you lots of success in this new challenge!

The McGill-HEC EMBA class recently shared breakfast and a session of morning reflections with the International Advisory Board of the Desautels Faculty of Management (the McGill half of the EMBA McGill-HEC), and both groups found the exchange refreshing and worthwhile.

Each year, the program invites a prominent business person to take on the role of ‘Executive Patron’ of the class. The current patron is Robert Swidler, Chairman of Egon Zehnder Canada.  Mr. Swidler, understanding the importance of connection between the program and the business community, decided that his mid-year update with the class should be shared with his fellow members of the Desautels Advisory Board, and they were introduced to the morning reflections that are a hallmark of the program.  Everyone was asked to reflect, individually, on something good that had happened in their businesses in the last week, and what made it happen.  Then, they discussed in small groups, composed of both EMBAs and Advisory Board members, and finally, in a plenary session general conclusions we’re shared.  The importance of people, cooperation, sharing and teamwork surfaced as common drivers of the good things happening in their businesses.

It was a new process for the advisory board members, but one they really appreciated.  Eliot Lifson, CEO of Peerless, remarked: “I’ve learned something new today. I’m going to continue these morning reflections”, and Bob Swidler suggested making the combined breakfast an annual event.  The EMBAs were equally appreciative of the opportunity to share ideas and philosophies informally with important members of the business community.

The patron and the advisory board breakfast are just two examples of how the program lives its mission of relevance to the business community.

Past patrons include Monique F. Leroux, President and CEO of the Desjardins Group, Paul Desmarais Jr, Chairman and co-CEO of Power Corporation, Thierry Vandal, CEO of Hydro Québec and Serge Godin, founder and Executive Chairman of CGI.

The EMBA class is working with three startup companies throughout the course of the year.  Their objective: make an effective pitch to a panel of Venture Capitalists on behalf of the startup they are working with.  This project gives the class the opportunity to apply their learnings to a real life situation, and it provides the startups with fresh sets of eyes to look at their business models and other challenges.

Last week they spent a day focused on venture capital, and pitching to VCs. They met with John Elton, a partner in iNovia Capital, and Austin Hill, a successful entrepreneur and angel investor.  The core of John Elton’s message was that potential venture capital investors want to know:

• Why you
• Why this idea
• Why now

He underlined that VCs are more interested in the idea, the progress and the people than in how smooth the pitch is.  Time is a scarce resource for entrepreneurs, and he counsels always choosing the tradeoff that will bring you more customers rather than the one that will perfect the pitch.

Austin Hill dropped the class right into the action.  In teams of 10, they were given a business idea, and had 10 minutes to develop their first pitch.  An amazing amount of creativity and collaboration was unleashed as a result of a strict deadline and a bit of rivalry.  Next step, 20 minutes to develop a slide presentation with a twist. No one fired up their computers. Rather, they used index cards to sketch out their ideas and their pitch. Limiting technology once again opened the creative floodgates, and ensured that they focused on the idea and the message, rather than how to make it pretty.

The teams will make their final pitches to a venture capital panel during the Catalytic Mindset Module in August.  The class is working with Taste Filter, Sweetiq, and World Wide Hearing.  The new business challenge is an example of how the program integrates theory and practice, and looks at businesses holistically.

Here is a part of Joey’s letter thanking her EMBA colleagues:

Dear Family,

I wanted to say how incredibly grateful and touched I am
for what you did this past module.

Today we will be depositing $615.00 dollars in the ONEXONE bank for
the breakfast program for our First Nations Breakfast program. I don’t really
know what to say other than I am honored to be part of this group.

This morning I met with someone who asked me what I had learned so far in
the EMBA program, I answered simply that I was on a journey of self-discovery and
awareness with people who were bringing so much to my life. If there is one thing
we can all count on in the future is that our network will always be there for all
of us and we can never replace that, ever.

[…]I can tell you that every dollar will feed one of our kids a wholesome
breakfast and that means more than you can ever imagine.

Thank you again.

What can I say; other than it is so nice to discover that you can
still learn and share and grow at any age and any experience

Joey

The EMBA team is always very proud to discover the projects that cohorts develop to help and engage with different foundations (click here to learn about the 2012 cohort’s projects). This kind of project unites the group as René Massicotte (EMBA 2014) said about this ONEXONE fundraising:

“We are pleased to have contributed to the ONEXONE First Nations Breakfast program. We should support each other. We are stronger together than we are alone!”

Once again, congratulations to the “Milestone” class for their fundraising.

The McGill HEC Montréal EMBA team would like to congratulate Francine Laurin on her promotion to Associate Vice-President for the TD Waterhouse Centre, Direct Investment (Discount Brokerage). Francine is a 2011 EMBA graduate.

We share her excitement about this new challenge and wish her lots of success in this new role.

This is Francine’s second promotion since graduating from the McGill HEC EMBA. Her career is a great example of the progress, challenges and successes that are part of our graduates’ path!

Find out what an EMBA program is: an MBA program for executives and seasoned managers!

Discover the advantages and benefits of our program, a world class partnership between two of Canada’s top business schools!

The registration deadline for the next class is fast approaching (June 1st, 2013). If you’re thinking about the McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA, join us at our evening information session on April 24, 7pm at HEC Montreal, to get your questions answered.

The evening will begin with a networking cocktail. Future candidates and those interested in the program will be able to connect with both the two alumni attending and with program directors. Then, we’ll move to the EMBA classroom, where Professor Louis Hébert, the program co- director, will present the McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA program and answer questions. Last year, 35% of participants indicated that this presentation was their best information source about the program.

Don’t miss this opportunity to meet with alumni and learn more about how this program can help you develop as a leader and a person!

April 24, 2013 – Starts at 7PM
Standard Life Room, 3000 Chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine, 1st floor
A light lunch will be served. Informations: 514-340-6537

You will meet:

The program helped them develop as leaders and as people. We are convinced that their experience over the 15 months of the program, which was a real period of development and growth for them, makes them the best possible ambassadors for the McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA.

We are very pleased to present these 38 exceptional leaders who have successfully completed this demanding and enriching Executive MBA program.

You will find the mosaics of the graduating class in Premium magazine on April 8^th, in the spring edition of HEC Mag and in La Presse on April 17^th, 2013. You can also download the 2013 graduating class mosaic in PDF here.

Thanks to the initiative of Nathalie Angibeau and Marie Sénécal-Tremblay, two 2013 graduates of the program, the Class of 2013 helped a small primary school in Bananier, an island of 800 habitants in Haiti and helped Les Amis de la Montagne foundation to plant trees

The McGill HEC Montreal EMBA students and the students of the tiny Bananier Primary School in the town of Petit-Goave couldn’t be more different. Bananier is a small island where the inhabitants have limited financial means and live mainly from fishing and some farming, while the 2013 EMBA class is a group of senior executives in Montreal. Nevertheless, these managers and forty year-old “students” have made a difference in the lives of six classes of children of this small Haitian school.

Nathalie Angibeau, Field Coordinator for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), had no difficulty in persuading her 37 classmates to raise funds in order to give to each child and each member of the school staff, a kit containing pencils, erasers, notebooks, soap, a ball or a skipping rope for the younger, a geometry set, deodorant and skin lotion for the teens and chalk, calculators, books, staples and a school bag for the principal and the teachers. The money raised by the students of EMBA totaled $ 2,400. It is a small gesture that had major repercussions for the students of Bananier but also for our program participants.

Les Amis de la Montagne’s mission is to “Protect and enhance Mount Royal through community involvement and environmental education.” Marie Sénécal-Tremblay, Executive director of the Heritage Montreal Foundation, asked her colleagues in the EMBA program to participate in the preservation of Mount Royal by helping the team of Les Amis de la Montagne in their tree planting. Despite the rain, all lent a hand to this worthy cause!

The McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA program looks forward to discovering what projects future cohorts will develop.  The experience of helping others allows participants to strengthen the ties which unite them while working at achieving a common goal.