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Recognizing remarkable commitment to the Ivey community

Sep 23, 2023

As Ivey celebrates Homecoming 2023 in its centennial year, this weekend marks a special opportunity to recognize individuals who have truly made a difference to the Ivey experience. During Saturday’s welcome and address, Dean Sharon Hodgson honoured this year’s recipients of the Distinguished Service and Faculty Service Awards and, unique to this year’s celebrations, presented two Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Congratulations to the 2023 Distinguished Service Award recipient, Gary Svoboda, MBA ’83, and the Faculty Service Award recipient, Associate Professor Tony Frost. Both individuals have provided extraordinary service to the Ivey Business School over an extended period of time.

“I think it’s really important to be able to give back to the school that gave me so much. It gave me my career, it gave me my outlook on life, and this is my opportunity to help support the School.” – Gary Svoboda, MBA ’83
“When I arrived at Ivey, what I saw was a culture and a set of practices that were vastly different from anything I’d experienced before. It’s really exciting to me to think that our school has been around for 100 years, and I’ve been a part of it.” – Tony Frost

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Alumni Network marked Ivey’s centennial with two special Lifetime Achievement Awards for each category to honour an alum and former professor who consistently go above and beyond for the Ivey community. A heartfelt congratulations to Donald K. Johnson, MBA ’63, LLD ’07, for his extraordinary contributions to and unwavering advocacy of the School, and Retired Professor Kathleen Slaughter for her ongoing connection to the School and alumni long after retirement.

Both Johnson and Slaughter were the inaugural recipients of their respective Distinguished Service Award over 20 years ago and have continued to provide profound and enduring support to Ivey through the years.

“When you build your life and your career with intention and purpose by focusing on the things you are passionate about and that make a difference in the lives of many, you create the impact that you want to make.” – Donald K. Johnson, MBA ’63, LLD ’07
“I look at the role of teaching at Ivey as far more of a coaching role than an instruction role. I think that’s why we have such loyal alumni and why we have such strong associations with our alumni. We’ve coached them and we’ve helped them reach their best.” – Kathleen Slaughter