"As many of my family members have ties with Concordia, we have this natural inclination toward the university,” says Annie Hébert-Lalonde.
His generosity funds the Norman D. Hébert Engineering Scholarship at Concordia’s Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and the Norman D. Hébert Business Scholarship at the university’s John Molson School of Business.
“He always wanted to meet students receiving his awards,” says his granddaughter, Annie Hébert-Lalonde, BComm 97. Hébert-Lalonde’s mother is the daughter of Hébert, Sr.
“My grandfather was adamant about giving back to the community. He further liked to take an active role in his philanthropy,” says Hébert-Lalonde.
Hébert didn’t provide any guidelines, he just encouraged his three grandchildren — Norman John Hébert and Kathleen Hébert being the others — to put their own stamp on being involved. “As many of my family members have ties with Concordia, we have this natural inclination toward the university,” says Hébert-Lalonde.
Hébert’s wife — Johanne Capra — attended Sir George Williams University, one of Concordia’s two founding institutions, in the 1940s. Hébert-Lalonde met her husband, Antoine Soszynski, BComm 98, EMBA 09, at Concordia. Her uncle is Norman Hébert, Jr., BComm 77, chair of Concordia’s Board of Governors.
Hébert-Lalonde is senior manager at Accenture, an international information technology and services company. Among the ways she has shown her support is by judging at Concordia’s John Molson MBA International Case Competition, the largest of its kind in the world.
“It’s amazing,” she says. “What these students can do in such a short period of time is extraordinary.”
Hébert-Lalonde took the opportunity to interact with recipients of her family’s scholarships at Concordia’s Donor and Student Awards celebration on March 23, 2016. The event brings philanthropists and their beneficiaries under one roof.
“We spent the entire evening together,” says Hébert-Lalonde. “It’s very gratifying to see them all doing so well. When I left with my husband that evening, we said to each other: ‘Grandpa would have been so happy.’”
