What do an online classifieds pioneer, a fifth generation wine and spirits producer, a global financial services and consulting executive, and a seasoned investment management professional have in common?
They are the four members of McGill’s alumni community who have been tapped to lead the volunteer cabinet for Made by McGill: the Campaign for Our Third Century, the ambitious $2-billion comprehensive campaign launched earlier today.
Garvin Brown, BA’91, Claude Généreux, BEng’85, and Marcia Moffat, BSc’91, are serving as the Campaign’s Co-Chairs. John McCall MacBain, BA’80, LLD’14, who with his wife, Marcy McCall MacBain, made a $200-million gift in February to launch the McCall MacBain Scholarship program at McGill, is serving as Honorary Chair.
With careers spanning different industries, each of them will draw on their personal and professional experiences to help the University build deeper connections with alumni and friends, and reach its fundraising objectives.
We asked John, Garvin, Claude, and Marcia why they made the decision to join this leadership group. As you might imagine, their answers are as diverse as the student and faculty bodies who will ultimately benefit from their efforts.
Q: What inspired you to join as a volunteer for Made by McGill: the Campaign for Our Third Century?
John: As an alumnus who benefitted from McGill, as a believer in the importance of public education at the highest level of quality, and as a major donor to scholarships at McGill, I volunteered to help encourage others to reach higher so together, we can continue to develop this unique institution. From Ernest Rutherford to Wilder Penfield, or alumni like John Peters Humphrey, the author of the first draft of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, McGill has been and will continue to be at the frontier of creating knowledge and developing the leaders of our world. I want to be part of it!
Garvin: With all of the change that we are seeing in the world today – environmental, demographic, economic, political, technological – I’ve never been more convinced of the value that a 200-year-old Canadian university, founded and thriving in my hometown of Montreal, can bring to the world. McGill combines the assuredness of historic academic pedigree with a progressive drive born from its 21st century multicultural and multidisciplinary DNA. Helping that flourish can surely only help humanity in the coming decades.
Q: What impact are you hoping to make?
Marcia: Quite simply, I want more people to care. Two billion dollars is an extraordinary amount of money to raise and there is a natural inclination to think that this responsibility lies with someone else. While meeting the financial goal of the campaign is important, what is equally as significant to its success will be to increase engagement levels among McGill alumni worldwide. We need more members of the University’s community to pay it forward, at whatever level is comfortable for them. Every gift matters and if more people give what they can and experience that sense of connection to McGill, then I feel I will have made an impact.
Claude: Given my career experience, I hope to help McGill increase its fundraising efforts within the corporate sector. I will be working closely with the University’s development professionals to strategize new approaches, activate our regional committee members, and establish a comprehensive framework that will take the University “to the next level” in this sphere. On a personal note, I also want to make an impact philanthropically by increasing my family’s contributions to McGill, and creating new opportunities for students at the intersection of academic and athletic excellence.
Q: How were you Made by McGill?
John: I became a student leader – running Welcome Week, the Winter Carnival and the Students’ Society of McGill University. I received excellent academic preparation, which led me to earning a Rhodes Scholarship. All of this helped shape my leadership in business and philanthropy for the next 40 years, and I recognize I did not make it alone. Great students, teachers and researchers surrounded me, and each of them provided me with the elements I needed for future success. McGill indeed made me.
Marcia: My experience at the University came at a pivotal time in my life as I had just graduated from high school in Ontario. I went from living with my parents to moving to a new city and living independently while still in my teenage years. But having the opportunity to attend a renowned educational institution in such a vibrant and dynamic city like Montreal was so rewarding. To this day, I consider it a defining experience, both personally and professionally. Studying at McGill provided me with an incredibly strong foundation upon which I built my career. I draw upon the learnings from my undergrad to this day.