I grew up in small town Canada and knew I wanted to broaden my horizons. McGill was a natural choice – an excellent university in a beautiful bilingual city, far from home.
It changed everything for me. I was already strong academically but at McGill was the first time I was intellectually challenged. As one of only a handful of women in the Management Faculty, I was encouraged to consider a range of career options at a time when most female students were not particularly career directed. I was hired into my first job by a McGill Economics professor who ran the business analytics department of a major Canadian corporation.
McGill had a diverse community of students and I fell into a very international group of friends: from the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark and Lebanon. It was an open-minded and tolerant environment, altering my mindset and giving me the confidence to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Again, to put this in context, the beginnings of wide-scale globalisation were taking root and, having attended McGill, I was well positioned to take the risks which this entailed. I initially moved to Toronto and then New York and London where my banking career has since been centred. In both of those international centres, McGill was known and respected.
Despite winding down a few years ago, I am still involved in board work and attended the Courtauld Institute where I gained a master’s degree in art history, having to revive study techniques I picked up in Montreal.
McGill is also a family institution for me. My husband was a McGill graduate and one of my sons attended the University. Born and brought up in London, his choice was guided as much as mine had been, by the chance to enjoy a new culture and attend an excellent academic institution, and I suspect escape to a location far from home.