On May 28, more than 300 Schulich alumni, students, faculty and staff continued the Schulich 50th Anniversary celebrations at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto at the annual CONNECT conference.
It was the first time the event has moved from the Schulich Keele campus and the response was overwhelming.
“Splendid, spectacular, superb. I can’t think of any better words to describe the Schulich 50th Anniversary celebrations,” said Theodore Peridis, chair of the Schulich 50th Anniversary Steering Committee and associate professor of Strategic Management/Policy; director, India Executive MBA Program.
Dean Dezsö J. Horváth opened up the event by welcoming everyone to the marquee celebration.
“Today’s CONNECT is a signature event in more than a year of special initiatives designed to celebrate our School’s transformational role in shaping global business education over the past 50 years,” he said.
The event featured a fireside chat with two distinguished alumni: Bharat Masrani (BBA ’78, MBA ’79) group president & CEO, TD Bank Group and Ron Mock (MBA ’79) president & CEO, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Following this, participants were able to attend a selection of sessions discussing key issues and personal insights from industry leaders. They included: Disruption by Design, where speakers recapped their experience with disruptive technology; Data-Driven Decision Making, where the speakers touched on cutting-edge developments in the world of business analytics; Rethinking Cities in the Age of Urbanization, discussing how to achieve a more sustainable urban landscape; The FinTech Challenge, which reviewed the new challenges with online banking; The Future of Global Retail, examining consumer behaviour and its effects on global trends in retail; and It’s Time To Start-up, sharing the personal experience of entrepreneurs on growing a business.
The special event closed off with a keynote presentation from Mark Bowden, president, Truthplane. He is a body language and behaviour expert who was voted No. 1 in the World’s Top 30 Body Language Professionals in 2014 by GlobalGurus.org. He shared secrets on how body language is perceived and offered simple fixes that can help in the professional world, from hand placement to posture.