After 2020, Air Canada plans to be running its own in-house loyalty program instead of sticking with Aeroplan. So, what does that mean?
For now, not much. Aeroplan members have plenty of time to use up their points. But once Air Canada shifts to its new plan, there are several possibilities.
After less than a year at the job, Ericsson Senior VP and head of North American operations Rima Qureshi (BCom’87, MBA’96) has left the company. Chief Strategy Officer Niklas Hueveldop has stepped in on an interim basis, and the company has started the search for a permanent replacement. Ericsson is in the midst of a turnaround, streamlining operations and bumping up its investment in R&D.
The last time WestJet’s pilots voted on unionization, only 45 per cent were in favour — but times change.
Last Friday, 62 per cent voted to make the Air Line Pilots Association their bargaining agent, despite WestJet’s stance that being non-union represents a competitive advantage.
Professor Karl Moore calls the vote a likely result of the growth that WestJet has undergone since its early days, saying that the airline has “lost that kind of feisty upstart David and Goliath feeling.”
Ballooning C Series costs, job losses and government cash all played into the recent investor revolt at Bombardier, but running underneath are other problems: The C Series is picking up steam after a slow start, but faces new hurdles in the form of complaints filed by Boeing.
On the rail side, the company’s Swedish office has been rocked by bribery charges, while flaws are hampering rail-car development in Australia — and the company has missed delivery deadlines for Toronto’s new street cars and light rail cars.
Public demonstrations and a shareholder revolt weren’t enough to keep Bombardier chairman Pierre Beaudoin from re-election, though he has stepped back from his former executive role.
Bombardier’s institutional investors by and large withheld support for Beaudoin and the executive pay raise, but Bombardier’s two-tiered share structure gives the founding family control; both measures passed easily.
By all accounts, Quebecers have had it with Bombardier, and they showed it during the company’s annual meeting last week. After months of bad news, culminating in government bailouts and 14,000 jobs hitting the chopping block, the word that top execs were getting an almost 50-per cent pay raise made many throw up their hands in disgust.
In response, the founding family doubled down on the executive compensation in the name of retailing top talent.
As late as Thursday morning, it was still not clear whether Pierre Beaudoin would be able to hang on as Chairman of Bombardier’s board of directors. Even though the founding family’s Class A shares give them over 50 percent of the voting power, the investor revolt that is currently raging is a clear indication that there is a real appetite for change.
Desautels Professor Karl Moore says that, though the board must pay attention to governance issues, Mr. Beaudoin is a valuable asset.
A research paper authored in part by Desautels Professor and Canada Research Chair in Technology, Management, and Healthcare Samer Faraj compared the traditional management style (where the most experienced person is in charge) with the more self-driving teams that are a hallmark of agile systems development.
The fallout from Bombardier’s executive compensation scandal isn’t over yet. After the company’s recent bad-news cocktail of layoffs, ballooning C Series development costs, and a heavy taxpayer payout, the executive pay issue has raised eyebrows. Several high-profile institutional investors have had enough, and noted that they would be withholding their support — including, but not limited to, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec.
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. has announced the slate of 2017 director nominees to be voted on at the annual meeting, which will be in Toronto on June 21, 2017. Among the list of nominees is Charles B. Main (BCom’79), who has three-decades of mining and finance experience, including positions at Yamana Gold, Normandy Mining, TVX Gold and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
This year’s X-1 cohort has been announced. It’s a diverse group, and one that boasts participants from the McGill Dobson Cup and the McGill Lean Startup Program, as well as a higher number of women than men.
The Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA) program is delighted to have welcomed 49 new students, along with a returning cohort of 45 that will write the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA) Common Final Exam (CFE) this September.
The CFE is three-day examination that requires candidates to demonstrate the depth and breadth of their abilities in accordance with the CPA competencies, which includes an understanding of leadership, teamwork, communications, and strategy.
McGill University is on its way to becoming a global centre for retail-management training, thanks to a $25-million gift from Aldo Bensadoun (BCom'64, LLD'12) via the Bensadoun Family Foundation.
The goal is to launch an inter-disciplinary school where students can come together with researchers and industry insiders to develop solutions for the ever-changing modern retail landscape.
J. Pearce Bunting (BCom'52) grew up during the Great Depression, then rose through the ranks of his father’s brokerage firm to become president in 1967. Ten years later, he became president of the TSX and modernized the operation by introducing a computerized trading system.
The technology was immensely unpopular with old-guard floor traders, but times were changing—and Mr. Bunting is now remembered as having been good for the exchange. Patrick Mars, who ran Bunting’s old company, said that “Under his watch the exchange prospered and did well.”
Lebanon native Fady Dagher (EMBA'12) has lived in Montreal since 1986. When he took over from Denis Desroches as chief of the Longueuil police in February, many on the south shore force didn’t want another Montrealer in charge.
