Issue #16: Fall 2006

2006 Alumni Achievement Awards

On November 2, 2006, the UBC community recognized five members of the UBC community for exceptional achievement in their respective fields and for exemplary behaviour as contributing members of society. We received many worthy nominees deserving of recognition and this year’s recipients reflect that high standard. The Alumni Achievement Dinner featured remarks and videos of the award recipients, presentation of awards, a silent auction and great food in the magnificent surroundings of the atrium of UBC’s Life Sciences Building. More information about this year’s awards (and how to nominate for next year) can be found on our website at www.alumni.ubc.ca/awards.

Frank Iacobucci, BCOM’61, LLB’62, LLD’69
Lifetime Achievement Award

A Justice of the Supreme Court until his retirement in 2004, Frank Iacobucci has shared his professional insight broadly. More specifically, he has used his breadth of legal knowledge to provide guidance to private practice, academia and government as well as the judiciary. He has said that the noblest attribute of membership in a profession is service to both clients and the public, and in this he has been exemplary.

Mr. Iacobucci’s career began in New York, where he worked as a corporate lawyer. He returned to Canada in 1967 and joined the faculty of Law of the University of Toronto. There, he contributed to both the academic and administrative side of university life, holding senior positions in both spheres. He was professor and dean of the university’s Law faculty, then moved up an administrative notch to become Vice-President and Provost.

Mr. Iacobucci’s high-ranking legal appointments include his time as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada during the 1980s. He was Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada from 1988 until 1991, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. After his retirement he returned to Toronto to take on the interim presidency of the University of Toronto, at the same time returning to his professorial duties. At UBC, he is current holder of the Walter S. Owen (visiting) Chair, the first endowed chair in the Faculty of Law at UBC.

The list of his past and current directorships and advisory roles – most of them in a voluntary capacity – is extensive. Present involvements include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Tim Horton’s, the Trudeau Foundation (as a mentor) and Torstar, owners of the Toronto Star and numerous other publications. On July 1, 2005, he became counsel with Torys LLP, advising government, business and colleagues on all things legal and policy-related. In 2006, Mr. Iacobucci was appointed chair of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

He has often acted in an advisory capacity to government and during the 1980s was a member of the Ontario Securities Commission. He was counsel to the 1974 Estey Commission’s inquiry into the steel industry, and in 2005 represented the federal government in spearheading moves to resolve the legacy of Indian Residential Schools. His professional knowledge can also be gleaned from the many articles and books he has authored or edited.

Mr. Iaccobucci is the son of Italian immigrants, who instilled in their son a strong pride in his heritage. Among the many tokens of esteem he has received, the honorary citizenships bestowed on him by the Italian towns of Mangone and Cepegatti – his parents’ birthplaces – are accolades he holds particularly dear. He has been a strong supporter of the Italian-Canadian community for many years, having been VP of the National Congress of Italian Canadians and active as a board member in its Toronto branch. He has received a number of related awards from Italian-Canadian communities in Canada, including the Canadian-Italian National Award in 2000 that acknowledged his positive influence on Canada’s society, culture and economy, and the  Valigia d’Oro Award in 2002, which recognizes the contributions and sacrifices made by Italian Immigrants to Canada. And one of his legacies at Toronto University is The Frank Iacobucci Centre for Italian-Canadian Studies.

He is appreciated in other countries, too. In 1993, he was appointed Commendatore dell’Ordine Al Merito by the Republic of Italy. In 1999 he became an Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge University (where he completed his Masters and a diploma in International Law), and also of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has received eleven honorary doctorates, including one from UBC, and received the UBC Law Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Roger Jackson, MPE’67
Alumni Award of Distinction

Roger Jackson, who won an Olympic gold medal in rowing for Canada in 1964, is now a respected national and international leader in sports. His seasoned input has raised the profile of excellence in sport, and he is the orchestrator of many programs designed to help athletes realize their full potential. The respect accorded him as a long-time sports consultant is rooted in his own sporting pedigree and his long years of service. 

As a young man, Dr. Jackson chose to participate in the UBC Rowing program because of its gruelling training schedule and high expectations, which came close to meeting his own. Waking every day at 4:30 am for the first of two training sessions paid off. At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 he won gold in the coxless pairs rowing event with fellow alumnus George Hungerford, and went on to compete at the next two games (bearing the Canadian flag for his team at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games).

When he was no longer at his athletic peak, he began helping younger athletes carve out their own athletic careers. As manager of Technical Programs for Sport Canada in the department of National Health and Welfare, he developed programs to prepare athletes for the 1976 Olympics and established national policies and more federal support for national sports organizations. The department also consulted him on sports research and setting up a national coaching association.

As director of Sports Canada between 1976 and 1978 he led the federal government’s sport program, negotiating sports agreements with other countries and allocating funding to national organizations. Until recently, he was regularly committing up to 25 voluntary hours per week to various sports-related activities and initiatives.

He joined the University of Calgary in the 1970s, and was dean of the faculty of Physical Education from 1978 to 1988. During his tenure, he attracted key faculty members, initiated graduate programs and raised $80 million for new facilities that included the Sport Medicine Centre in 1988, of which he became director until 2003 (he holds a doctorate in Biodynamics from the University of Wisconsin). He shaped new research and education programs and established a multi-million dollar endowment for their ongoing finance. He was also heavily involved in other aspects of university life, serving as Special Advisor to Presidents among other leadership roles. After his retirement in 2004, a new campus building was named the Roger Jackson Centre for Health and Wellness Research. 

Soon after retiring from the University of Calgary, he set up a private consultancy business, Roger Jackson and Associates Ltd. The company has provided guidance to Olympic host cities and various Olympic bid attempts. He was a consultant and strategist behind the successful London 2012 Summer Olympic bid, He was recently appointed CEO of Own the Podium 2010, a program to help Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes secure more medals at the Vancouver games. Own the Podium aims to raise $110 million and initiate several new high performance programs to support Canada’s Olympic hopefuls.

Dr. Jackson is enthusiastic about the program because it takes a holistic approach to promoting sporting excellence in this country, considering all aspects affecting performance from quality of coaching to the latest insights from sports science. He believes that the program will establish a solid and sustainable infrastructure to provide Canada’s athletes with the opportunities they deserve.  

Dr. Jackson has been president of the Canadian Olympic Committee for eight years and is a generous volunteer with the International Olympic Committee and Pan American Sports organization among many others. He spent 10 years as a key leader of the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games. He is current chair of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports, helping to ensure that the proper values underpin the Canadian approach to sport.  

Besides his demanding sports-related commitments, Dr. Jackson has also found time to chair the Calgary International Organ Festival, the Cantos Music Foundation and serve the executive committee for Operation Eyesight Universal. He has more than 30 publications to his name, is a recipient of the IOC Olympic Order and was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1983.

Andrew Saxton
Honorary Alumnus Award

Since arriving in Canada as an 18-year-old orphan from Hungary in 1947 and becoming a Canadian citizen in 1953, Andrew Saxton has quietly joined the ranks of that outstanding group of new Canadians from all parts of the world who are noted for hard work, a strong sense of place in the Canadian community, and a desire to share their successes with others.

In Mr. Saxton’s case, an inherent ability in the field of financial management took him from his first job as an accountant with Canada Packers Ltd. in Vancouver to the boardroom of Laurentide Financial Corporation, which became a major economic generator with more than 2,000 employees and 220 branch offices. He also has served as president of Elite Insurance Company, as chair of Grouse Mountain Resorts Ltd., director of BC Television Broadcasting System Ltd., president of The Granville Island Hotel and Marina Ltd. and chair of King George Development Corporation. He was a founding member of all these companies.

His business endeavours have played and continue to play a significant role in the social, cultural and economic lives of Canadians. Early examples include his visionary leadership of Grouse Mountain Resorts in undertaking the construction of the Skyride (1966), which resulted in Grouse Mountain’s skiing, hiking and restaurant facilities becoming one of BC’s largest private tourist attractions with in excess of 1.1 million visitors annually.

On the cultural side, he was a member of the syndicate that won the first license for a private television station in Canada in 1960. The group was formed as VanTel Broadcasting, later BCTV, which is acknowledged as one of the province’s most influential news organizations.

As chairman of King George Development Corporation, he was instrumental in having the SkyTrain extended to Surrey’s King George Station in 1994 with his company donating both cash and land to the project. As chairman of King George Financial Corporation and deputy chairman of Allied Hotel Properties Inc., he has been actively involved in a number of commercial real estate projects in Canada.

His business accomplishments have singled him out for appointments to the boards of federal and provincial Crown corporations and agencies including Canadian Commercial Corporation (Ottawa), the Canadian Forces Liaison Council (BC) and the Insurance Corporation of BC, where he was a director and chairman of the Investment committee. He was also a member of the BC government’s Reference Drug Program Consultation panel and of the President’s Community Advisory Council at UBC. Other federal assignments included acting as special advisor to the Speaker of the House of Commons on official visits to Europe, Hong Kong and China, and membership on the Advisory Committee, National Capital Development Program, National Capital Commission.

His current corporate appointments include chairmanship of King George Financial Corporation and board membership of Imperial Parking Canada Corporation, Earthworks Industries Inc. and the UBC Investment Management Trust. He is also a partner in the Chiefs Development Group, owners of the Chilliwack Coliseum.

Mr. Saxton is a former member of the advisory boards for HSBC Capital Canada (Private Equity Fund) and the BC Life Sciences Fund. Past directorships include VSM MEDTech Ltd., Pheromone Sciences Corporation, the Commonwealth Bank (Nassau), Laurentide Financial Trust (London, England), Societe d’Entresprise du Canada, Societe Francaise de Financement de Ventes A Credit (Paris), Ultratech Corporation (Sunnyvale, California) and Morlan Pacific (San Francisco).

Parallel to his business career, he has been actively involved in health and charitable organizations, primarily with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon, of which he became president at the age of 34. He played a critical role in raising nearly $4 million for an endowment fund for the BC Heart Foundation chair in Cardiology at UBC and St. Paul’s Hospital. He received the Canadian Heart Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and in 2004 received the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon Lifetime Achievement Award, only the fourth such award to be presented in the foundation’s 50-year history. He has represented the Canadian Heart Foundation at the International Society and Federation of Cardiology in Geneva and served as chairman of its Financial Support committee.

Mr. Saxton was also one of the founders and president of the charitable auction ENDEAVOUR, chaired the Special Names and Trusts campaign for the United Way of Vancouver, served as first vice president of the Vancouver Opera Association and is a former shareholder and director of Northwest Sports Enterprises, then owners of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League.

He is married to Sophie and has two sons, Richard and Andrew, Jr., and two daughters, Shelley and Anne-Marie. He was always appreciative of what his adopted country afforded him and remains eternally grateful to his Uncle Leslie Schaffer and wife Kato, who sponsored his coming to Canada.

David Granville, PHD’01
Outstanding Young Alumnus

Assistant professor Dr. David Granville is one of Canada’s rising stars in cardiovascular research. He specializes in fathoming the mechanisms of cell injury and death in cardiovascular diseases from atherosclerosis to heart transplant rejection. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Biochemistry in UBC’s department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and in fewer than 10 years has published 50 articles, four book chapters and has two patents pending to accompany the four he already holds.

His academic potential has been recognized and fostered through a number of financial awards along the way and he is grateful for the backing.

While completing his doctorate at UBC, he was funded by a research traineeship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. He then attended the renowned Scripps Institute in San Diego supported by a fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. It became apparent just how deserving a recipient he was when he made a discovery that attracted the attention of research peers and the public alike.

Hardened arteries can restrict blood flow to the heart, heighten blood pressure and cause heart attacks. Compounding the problem are immune cells, which trigger cell death in the wall of a hardened artery and create a bigger risk. Dr. Granville’s research team discovered that a certain enzyme plays a key role in the cell death process and learned that its suppression could reduce damage to the heart when the organ is subjected to cardiac ischema and reperfusion injury. This was a major discovery that drew much attention from the media and one which has potential for reducing the size of a heart attack by up to 60 per cent. The findings were prominently featured in respected journals and Dr. Granville is often approached by the local and national media for interviews. A more recent discovery is that suppression of a protein in mice inhibits atherosclerosis. This research also exposed some unexpected connections with hair loss and longevity and patents are pending.

Dr. Granville is driven by a desire to see rapid progress from bench to bed, from discovery to application. He is an inspiring mentor and engaging speaker with a reputation that attracts talented graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to bolster UBC’s research efforts. Partly because of what he inspires, he was asked to head the strategic planning committee at UBC’s James Hogg ICAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, St. Paul’s Hospital (of which he is an executive member) to attract other talented researchers to UBC. He is respected for his level of involvement, effectiveness, and generous collaboration with colleagues. He has been invited to act as reviewer for several academic journals and granting bodies, thereby helping to maintain the quality and standard of scientific research in this country and abroad.

Last year, Dr. Granville was named by The Caldwell Partners and the Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40. He also won a Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Society of Transplantation in 2004.

More evidence of the confidence in his ability is provided by the number of scholarships and grants he continues to receive. As well as funding from CIHR, BC Transplant Society, St. Paul’s Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, he is also the recipient of a Michael Smith Foundation for Heart Research Scholar Award. He has memberships to several scholarly societies connected with his work including the Canadian Society of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and the North American Vascular Biology Organization.

Mike Quinn, BASC’03
Global Citizenship Award

When Mike Quinn was nearing the end of his degree in Mechanical Engineering, he began to doubt whether he could find complete satisfaction from a career in the field. Then he learned about Engineers Without Borders (EWB), an organization of students and young professionals who volunteer their skills at home and abroad on projects designed to tackle poverty and improve quality of life. EWB provided the missing elements and demonstrated to him the true potential of his education.

Mr. Quinn’s humanitarian leanings have long been apparent. As a final project for his degree he worked on a device for shielding people who remove landmines and soon decided to continue applying what he had learned at university where it would do the most good.

His experience during two placements in Africa through EWB has only fuelled this commitment. He has gained a deeper understanding of the complexity of poverty and believes that significant contributions to tackling it demand long-term involvement. He is aware of the variety of challenges, but instead of being cowed by them he is only more convinced that with the right approach and enough effort, individuals can make a difference.

In Ghana he joined a program to improve food processing and prevent wastage. In collaboration with rural farmers, he worked on a diesel-powered machine able to power several different food processing machines, allowing the farmers’ work to be carried out faster and more efficiently and saving vital food supplies from spoiling. Used in villages with no electricity supply, the adaptable machine could also be used to power water pumps and charge batteries for lighting and telecommunications.

His recently completed second placement was in Livingstone, Zambia, where he worked with CARE International on a food security program involving the reinstatement of sorghum as a hardier staple crop to replace maize (see Mike’s article in the Fall, 2005 issue of Trek Magazine). Maize took over as the crop of choice a few decades ago but is unable to thrive in drought conditions. It was a cross-sector project involving a local brewery, which agreed to buy the sorghum to make beer. This experience led him to view cross-sector projects as an effective way of achieving mutually beneficial ends.

This September he starts his master’s degree at the London School of Economics, aiming to balance the practicality of his first degree with a solid theoretical understanding of the context in which he may be applying it. He is also considering an MBA in social entrepreneurship.

In the future, Mr. Quinn sees himself working in private sector management for companies prepared to be involved in cross-sector development projects. A pragmatist, he believes a cooperative approach to be the most effective. He wants to encourage management practices and corporate policies that speak to more than just the financial stakeholders, based on the principle that private sector projects in the developing world should always result in benefits that spill over into the local communities.

Mr. Quinn isn’t only an engineer. He’s also a writer. In his final year at UBC, he was named the 2003 Mechanical Engineering Coop student of the year. This was largely in recognition of the excellence of a report he wrote during a work term with a large oil company to help them meet Kyoto Protocol requirements. He also bagged an award for technical writing. But it’s his writing about Africa that has gained the most attention. Working alongside the locals to understand the context they live in and find solutions that will work on a practical level, Mr. Quinn has gained an empathy that is communicated through his writing. His articles have been published in the national and local press, including a regular Letters from the Field column on the CBC website. One of his articles was noticed by singer Sarah McLachlan, who used it as inspiration for her latest music video.The bare-bones video that illustrates the song World on Fire compares the cost of producing the typical pop-music video with what it would cost to support a development initiative, build a schoolhouse, or provide medication.

Mr. Quinn wants to live in a more equitable world. His attitude and combination of skills make him an extremely effective advocate for change. ¤