As the leading entrepreneurial funding scheme at McGill University, the MIF has attracted significant interest from donors. Their generosity enables the MIF to support the full cycle of innovation across the entire University, and help bring brilliant ideas out of the lab and into the real world. We sincerely thank those alumni who have given to the MIF for helping us make an impact.
Ariel Deckelbaum
For some alumni, McGill is more than just another university. For Ariel Deckelbaum (BA’93, BCL/LLB’98), the relationship is in his blood. His father was a graduate in medicine, and Ariel’s three siblings are all alumni. Ariel met his future wife Catherine at McGill as well – in short, it is a true family affair.
Graduating in law and eventually relocating to New York City, Ariel has since become one of the most prominent corporate lawyers in a city that has no shortage of such professionals. Indeed, Ariel forged a reputation for being able to craft deals that can lead to dramatic business transformations, especially those that involve large international players.
With experience like this, having his input as a judge for the Deploy stage – the highest tier of MIF awards at $100,000 – is a true asset. He has a keen ability to determine potential pain points for any business in virtually any industry, and his probing questions to applicants has helped judges separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of selecting the most deserving winners. He has been a Deploy stage judge every year since the beginning of the MIF.
In 2023, Ariel opted to match this commitment in the form of a major donation to the MIF in honour of his parents. The generous gift will help the MIF flourish for years to come. It certainly demonstrates the depth of his dedication to McGill. This is on top of being a member of McGill’s Board of Governors, the Faculty of Law Advisory Board, and having been the inaugural Chair of the US (East Coast) Advisory Board.
Before making a final decision on awards, the Deploy judges are asked if they think they will be happy to read about the result in the next day’s newspaper. Ariel’s reply to this showed his strong feelings for his alma mater: “Every day I read about McGill is a good day,” he said.
Marc Boghossian
Marc Boghossian, a Swiss-Canadian of Lebanese-Armenian descent, graduated with Honors from McGill with a BCom double major in Finance and International Business in 1993. After his graduation, he joined his 6th generation family business in jewelry and gemstones. He moved to NYC to start his training in gemstones polishing and graduated from the Gemological Institute of America. His training continued in Belgium, Thailand, India and South Africa where he started trading in the rarest gems. In 1995, he founded Bomare SA, in Geneva, Switzerland. He specializes in the most exclusive gems and is a supplier to the leading jewelry brands and to qualified gemstones investors worldwide.
As his business expanded, he started diversifying into art and real-estate businesses. Curious and passionate by nature, he developed interests for contemporary art, vintage sports cars and wine collections. Mr. Boghossian has been able to bring together the many facets of the luxury business into a comprehensive environment. Through his various interests and his business relationships, he developed a prosperous network of visionary entrepreneurs and philanthropists.
Father of three, he recently took his two eldest sons to visit the Bronfman building where he gained so much knowledge and left so many memories. He feels indebted to McGill for the education and academic experience he received and, recently having become reconnected, is eager to help strengthen the alumni community in Switzerland, Europe and beyond.
In 2022, he chose to support Sustainable and Cleantech projects through the McGill Innovation Fund. He is one of the Lighthouse Circle of founding donors to the MIF. He believes that innovative ideas need to be supported and encouraged in order to have a real world impact.
David Holbrooke
David R. Holbrooke, BSc’64, MDCM’69, knows a thing or two about innovation.
A family physician by training with an interest in medical science research, Holbrooke became an entrepreneur in the health care field – a path he never imagined for himself but one he has clearly thrived at.
“I’ve always had this intense curiosity of how things work and how can we make them better,” says Holbrooke from his home in California. “I ended up sponsoring all kinds of businesses and helping develop them.”
More about this donation can be seen in this story prepared by University Advancement.
If you are interested in supporting the McGill Innovation Fund, please contact nicholas.synnott [at] mcgill.ca (Nicholas Synnott).
