Concordia welcomes 12 community leaders to new President’s Advisory Group

Universities across North America are confronting an unprecedented list of challenges, including the local effects of global conflicts, AI and other disruptive technologies, economic volatility and insecurity, dramatic shifts in work culture, the climate crisis and growing political influence on institutional autonomy.

To ensure that Concordia continues to thrive during this complex moment in history, the university has named 12 highly accomplished individuals to the new President’s Advisory Group.

The mandate of this voluntary group is to brainstorm, offer expertise and share diverse viewpoints on key issues of the day with the university’s president and vice-chancellor, Graham Carr, and his senior team. The group will provide advice on matters related to present and future challenges facing Concordia as well as emerging opportunities particular to its position as one of the world’s best young universities, based in Montreal, one of the world’s great cosmopolitan cities and centres of higher education.

“Drawing on as many perspectives and types of lived experience as possible is fundamental to how Concordia, as a next-gen university, tackles the most-pressing challenges confronting our community and society at large,” says Carr.

“The President’s Advisory Group will bring together some of Canada’s most creative minds to ask hard questions, help us see hidden opportunities and push us to lead with optimism and a renewed sense of purpose.”

The President’s Advisory Group will meet twice per year in Montreal, starting in spring 2024.

Carr adds, “We’re extremely grateful to this extraordinary group of individuals — each person is a transformative leader in their fields — for committing their time, energy and ideas in support of Concordia. Their work will help lay the foundation for our next 50 years of success, growth and positive impact on our regional, national and international communities.”

The full list of members is as follows:

• Morton S. Minc, CM, OQ, OOM, LLL (chair), BA 67, Concordia jurist-in-residence and former chief justice of the Montreal Municipal Court
• Nahlah Ayed, LLD 16, award-winning journalist and host of Ideas on CBC Radio
• Yolande James, managing director and head of Strategic Communications and Global Government Affairs, PSP Investments, and former cabinet minister and member of the National Assembly of Quebec
• Vickie Joseph, entrepreneur, founder and CEO, V Kosmetik International, and chair of the Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal
• Mélanie La Couture, president and CEO, Montreal Heart Institute
• Larry Markowitz, senior director, Financial Communications, NATIONAL Public Relations
• Brigitte Monneau, DESS, LLM, executive director, SYNTHÈSE – Pôle Image Québec
• Sabaa Quao, BComm 89, chief creative officer, Cossette and co-founder, Wealthie Works Daily
• Paule Robitaille, immigration lawyer and journalist as well as former correspondent for Radio-Canada, former commissioner on Immigration and the Status of Refugees in Canada, and former member of the National Assembly of Quebec
• Allan Rock, president emeritus, University of Ottawa, former cabinet minister in the Government of Canada, and former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations
• Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, grand chief of Kahnawake
• Thupten Jinpa, founder, Compassion Institute, principal English translator for the Dalai Lama, and chair, Mind and Life Institute