McGill Toronto Excellence Awards

Distinguished Leader Award 
Reza Satchu, BA’91
 

Toronto entrepreneur Reza Satchu has built a stellar career that is noteworthy all on its own.

But equally impressive are his efforts over the past two decades to help develop Canada’s next entrepreneurs, including his volunteer teaching activities to share his business savvy.

Reza is the founder and managing partner of private investment firm Alignvest Management Corporation. He has co-founded, built, and managed six businesses across multiple industries – and is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs, as The Globe and Mail once noted. His many business accomplishments include the recently sold Alignvest Student Housing and StorageNow, which became one of Canada’s largest self-storage companies before its sale.

Reza taught an entrepreneurship course for years at the University of Toronto that was a smash hit with students. “What I was trying to do was bridge the gap between what I felt were a lower set of expectations that people had about what was possible,” he explained. “A big chunk of that, I think, had to do with the lack of exposure that they had to entrepreneurial leaders.”

The course turned out to be the precursor to NEXT Canada: a Toronto-based non-profit that Reza founded to accelerate the trajectory of Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs. As founding chairman, he oversees the organization and teaches its core entrepreneurship course to NEXT Canada cohorts, which have included about 100 McGill students to date.

Reza grew up in Toronto after his family emigrated from Kenya. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics from McGill and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he is a senior lecturer in the Entrepreneurship Management Unit.

“Immigrating to Canada was the most important event in my life and the ability to give back to Canada for me is a true privilege,” he says.

Reza served on the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation’s board for over 10 years, most recently as vice-chairman.

He is also a steadfast supporter of McGill’s mission, as a donor and dedicated volunteer. He is a longstanding member of McGill’s Toronto Regional Advisory Board and a member of the Leaders Alliance, a group comprised of McGill’s volunteers who share ideas and convene on issues of strategic importance to the University.

Impact Award
Jaclyn Grossman, MMus’19, GrDipPerformance’20
 

Soprano and administrator Jaclyn Grossman has made remarkable contributions to fostering community, empowering youth, and promoting learning opportunities.

By her own admission, Jaclyn is passionate about making sure that artists have a working knowledge of practical skills, such as financial literacy and project management. In parallel to her singing, she has developed a portfolio career serving the singing community with skills necessary for success.

While studying at McGill’s Schulich School of Music, Jaclyn took part in summits held by the Association for Opera in Canada. Noticing a gap in professional education for the opera community, she worked with the association to create a national fellowship and mentorship program.

At Opera 5, a Toronto indie opera company where she works as programs manager, Jaclyn oversees the new Portfolio Artist Internship Program in partnership with Opera McGill. The paid internship program allows Opera McGill students to gain professional experience and mentorship and develop secondary skills.

Jaclyn has also returned to campus in recent years to facilitate workshops for Opera McGill students about entrepreneurial and professional skills. “I want to continue fostering environments where artists feel empowered to build careers that reflect their passions, just as I was encouraged to do, allowing them to thrive,” Jaclyn says.

Jaclyn led the Phoenix Leadership Project, a charity she founded to promote youth leadership education. She also co-founded Likht Ensemble, a piano-vocal duo that aims to uncover and share music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. They perform across North America.

Jaclyn’s dedication to empowering others through education and professional development is truly inspiring and impactful.

Rising Star Award 
Daniel Almeida, PhD’23
 

Daniel Almeida is a behavioural scientist in the Privy Council Office’s Impact Canada, a government-led effort to accelerate innovation to improve the health and wellbeing of Canadians. In collaboration with public health officials and policymakers, he engages in research addressing complex societal challenges in order to guide the design of effective interventions, with a particular focus on improving outcomes for children and young adults.

During his doctoral studies at McGill in the lab of Dr. Gustavo Turecki, Daniel pioneered and optimized a protocol for single-cell methodologies for port-mortem brain tissue. His doctoral work included international conference presentations and a publication in the American Journal of Psychiatry. “Under Dr. Turecki’s mentorship, I learned how to synthesize complex ideas into innovative research questions.”

Outside the lab, Daniel co-founded Death Café @ McGill, a safe space to discuss oft-taboo topics such as death, dying, and grief, and introduced community-wide mental health initiatives. As an officer in the Neuroscience Graduate Student Association, Daniel trained peer supporters in active listening, suicide prevention and intervention. He was also instrumental in developing and implementing educational initiatives to raise awareness about sexual violence.

Daniel’s research, collaborations, and meaningful community outreach have earned him awards and recognition, including the NIH Outstanding Scholars Neuroscience Award Program in 2022 and a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Science list. He continues to integrate scientific inquiry with a commitment to social responsibility, laying the foundation for his rigorous and holistic mental health research.

McGill Friend of Education in Toronto Award 
David Kerr, BSc’65, Sheryl Kerr, BCom’67  
 

David and Sheryl met playing hockey at McGill. From there, their passion and support for McGill and Athletics bloomed. In 2007, the Kerrs established the Kerr Martlet Hockey Coach Endowment, creating a permanent source of funding for a full-time coach for the women’s team. A decade later they created the Women in Sport (WiS) program at McGill, designed to advance the role of women as athletes, coaches, and decision-makers by increasing the number of full-time female coaches and helping female athletes become future leaders. With the help of WiS, McGill’s percent of female coaches increased from 13 percent to 38 percent, an impressive number that continues to grow.

After David graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1965, he had a successful career leading many Canadian corporations, from Brookfield to Noranda and Ontario Power Generation, and he was involved with efforts to make mining activity consistent with the goals of sustainable development. At McGill he has been a dedicated volunteer, serving on the Board of Governors and multiple fundraising campaigns, including the project to refurbish the McConnell Arena. He is also committed to the “never-ending pursuit to get better at golf.”

It could almost be said that Sheryl has McGill in her DNA. Her parents met at McGill, and she completed her Bachelor of Commerce in 1967. McGill connections helped her launch her career as a systems engineer with IBM. She was later an owner and operator of Strathfield Consultants and Farm, reflecting her passion for horses. A dedicated volunteer at McGill, Sheryl has contributed to the campaign for the McConnell Arena and her graduating class’s 50th anniversary fundraising campaign.

In their home city of Toronto, and beyond, the Kerrs have had a significant impact across many sectors as generous champions of the arts, sport, education, and health, for organizations including United Way, the Special Olympics, the YWCA, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation, and Leaside Girls Hockey.

David and Sheryl are both past recipients of a Distinguished Service Award from the McGill Alumni Association, St. George’s Society Toronto Red Rose Award of Merit, and the Mitchell Family Alumni of the Year Award. Sheryl is an Honourary Musician of the TSO and was a recipient of the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation Rose Award.