Date & time
Thursday, March 18, 2021
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Registration is closed
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Gina Cody School Day: From engineer to business leader
A conversation with chief operating officer at Broadcom and alumnus Charlie Kawwas
Speaker(s)
Charlie Kawwas, Mourad Debbabi, Gina Cody, Kim Fuller, Nadia Bhuiyan
Cost
This event is free
Organization
Contact
Where
Online
While engineering and business may not seem to have much in common, many engineers become successful business leaders. In this engaging conversation, Charlie Kawwas, BEng 93, MASc 99, PhD 07, will discuss how his engineering degrees helped him rise to become chief operating officer at Broadcom — a tech company in Silicon Valley valued at more than $189 billion.
The conversation will be moderated by Nadia Bhuiyan, BEng 95, vice-provost, Partnerships and Experiential Learning at Concordia, with remarks by Mourad Debbabi, interim dean, Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, and Gina Cody, MEng 81, PhD 89, benefactor of the Gina Cody School.
Kawwas will also receive his Alumnus of the Year award from Kim Fuller, BFA 96, former president of the Concordia University Alumni Association.
This event is part of Gina Cody School Day, a celebration of the school and its impressive community of students, alumni, faculty and staff.
Speakers
Charlie Kawwas, BEng 93, MASc 99, PhD 07
Kawwas is the chief operating officer at Broadcom, an international technology leader, responsible for Global Operations. Additionally, he is responsible for sales for the Semiconductor and Brocade Storage Networking businesses and Corporate Marketing for all of Broadcom.
Kawwas received a Bachelor of Engineering (computer engineering), Master of Applied Sciences and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Concordia. He was presented both the Computer Engineering and Chait medals, awarded to the highest-ranking student graduating with a bachelor degree in engineering.
Under his leadership, Broadcomm's annual revenues grew from $2 billion in 2013 to more than $24 billion in 2020.
Gina Parvaneh Cody was the first woman awarded a PhD in building engineering at Concordia. She has more than 30 years of professional practice as a professional engineer, corporate executive and principal shareholder of an engineering firm.
In 2018, Cody made an historic $15 million gift to Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. In honour of her professional accomplishments and her generosity, the faculty was renamed the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. It is the first engineering faculty in Canada, and one of the first internationally, named after a woman.
Cody sits on several private boards and is a member of Concordia's Board of Governors and the chair of the Gina Cody School Advisory Board. She is also the co-chair of the Campaign for Concordia, the university’s most ambitious fundraising initiative ever.
She was awarded the Order of Montreal in 2019, named one of 2020's Top 25 Women of Influence in Canada and appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2020.
Debbabi is the interim dean of the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. He currently holds the NSERC/Hydro-Québec Thales Senior Industrial Research Chair in Smart Grid Security and the Honorary Concordia University Research Chair Tier I in Information Systems Security.
Fuller is the founder and CEO of Phil, a communications company supporting not for profit organizations. She has more than 20 years of experience working with local, national and international charities combines in graphic design, multimedia, online marketing and fundraising, with a lifelong passion for volunteering in the community.
Fuller is also the former president of the Concordia University Alumni Association and dedicated member of Concordia's alumni community.