With the end of another school year, thousands of students are closing one chapter of their journey and getting ready to take on the world.
This May, entrepreneurship was a special focus at the Global Ivey Day celebrations in Toronto. I had the opportunity to share the progress we’ve made at Ivey and Western at an alumni breakfast event. Later in the day I had the chance to congratulate entrepreneur Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, HBA ’92, for being awarded the Ivey Alumni Achievement Award for her accomplishments as a global entrepreneur
Research is always an important part of what we do at Ivey Entrepreneurship. This spring, our faculty, and PhD candidates took part in the 2019 GLEN Conference in Minnesota. Our students made quite an impression, which bodes well for their careers in teaching, training and researching entrepreneurship. Ivey Entrepreneurship continues to build our thought leadership in the field and we are developing new ways to bring our message to more and more people.
In this regard, I am happy to announce the launch of the first season of the Ivey Entrepreneur Podcast. It is a terrific opportunity to learn more about the journeys of our Ivey entrepreneurs. As we continue to build out more episodes, we welcome your input and suggestions of friends and classmates who have made the journey. Please feel free to email us at iveyentre@ivey.ca
We completed the 16th edition of the QuantumShiftTM Program, and the 5th cohort of the BDC Growth Driver Program. We now have over 700 high growth entrepreneurs, the real drivers of the Canadian economy, as part of the Ivey Family. Also, registration for the 3rd FamilyShiftTM program in September is now open. Our continued success in these areas have played a major role in advancing the Ivey Entrepreneurship brand across Canada.
Continuing to doing more at Western University, we joined the Bone and Joint Institute to host a pitch competition designed to encourage and cultivate entrepreneurial skills amongst London’s community of musculoskeletal health researchers. Thanks to our community partners and mentors it was a great success and we look forward to doing more events that integrate our town and gown expertise.
I would like to welcome Dean Sharon Hodgson to the Ivey Business School. She is enthusiastic about our mission, and it is wonderful to have her support as we grow out Entrepreneurship across Ivey and Western University.
Lastly, I would also like to thank Dr. Amit Chakma for his leadership and vision at Western University during the last ten years. All our efforts across campus would not have been possible without his strong support.