4 Concordians named to Order of Montreal

Dorothy W. Williams, BA 84, MA 99
Historian, specialist in Black history in Canada

Dorothy W. Williams was named one of CBC Montreal’s 2022 Black Changemakers and has received the John G. Dennison Award, a national prize from Black History Ottawa. She is the author of the books Blacks in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography, published in both English and French, and The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal. Williams is also the recipient of a 2023 Library and Archives Canada Scholar Award.

J. Sebastian van Berkom, BComm 69, LLD 17
Philanthropist, founder, partner, chairman and CEO of Van Berkom Global Asset Management

J. Sebastian Berkom has generously given to various organizations across Montreal, as well as to Concordia’s John Molson School of Business, specifically to the Van Berkom Investment Management Program (VBIMP) and Van Berkom-John Molson Small-Cap Case Competition.

Marguerite Mendell, BA 72
Economic policy expert, Concordia professor emerita

In 2013, Marguerite Mendell was awarded the Prix du Québec — the highest accolade offered by the Government of Quebec. She is the co-founder of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy and the Montreal Community Loan Association, iHer contribution to higher education was honoured with the Concordia University Alumni Association’s Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award in 2014.

Knight

Nancy Neamtan, LLD 15
Co-founder and former CEO of Quebec’s Chantier de l'économie sociale (Task Force on the Social Economy)

As a neighbourhood revitalization project in the southwest of Montreal, the Chantier has spawned the creation of a vast and diverse network Quebec’s social economy, the development of financial tools and solidarity finance institutions. It has also fostered research partnerships with universities across the country and an international community of practice. Nancy Neamtan was awarded an honorary degree by Concordia in 2015.