Engineer and business leader Gina Cody makes a $15-million gift for Concordia's next generation

Cody’s commitment began when she was a young child. One of five siblings — three brothers, who all became engineers, and one sister, a dentist — she has vivid memories of her mother underlining the importance of higher education.

“My mother was a housewife who never finished high school. She married very young, and she felt it was extremely important for me and my sister to be in charge of our own destiny,” Cody recalls. “My mother said, ‘The only way that you can survive in this society as a woman is with education.’”

After completing a bachelor’s in engineering from Aryamehr University of Technology (now Sharif University of Technology) in Tehran, Cody left the country at the end of the Iranian Revolution. She arrived in Montreal in 1979 with $2,000 in her pocket and a plan to get a master’s degree. “At the time, tuition in Canada was $4,000,” says Cody. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Where was I going to get the money? But higher education was my goal.”

She was accepted at another university. However, her brother, Mahmoud Bigtashi, BEng 79, had recently graduated from Concordia. He convinced her to meet with one of his engineering mentors, Cedric Marsh.

“I met with Professor Marsh two days after arriving in Canada,” Cody remembers. “We spoke for an hour, and at the end he said, ‘I really want you to join Concordia. Why would you go any other place?’ He gave me financial support immediately and I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t. He changed my life, and so did Concordia.”

Cody also worked as a teaching assistant while completing her master’s degree and taught in the faculty while pursuing her PhD. “Concordia made my arrival in Canada easy and my education fun — and I don’t think I would have had that experience elsewhere,” she says. “This university gave me the credentials to establish my career and the experience and the confidence that I needed to succeed.”

Standing out became the norm for Cody. As a student, she was often the only woman in her classes. And throughout her three-decade career, she would often be the sole woman at engineering events with hundreds of attendees.

“I would go to a meeting where there were 700 men and I would be the only woman in that conference,” she says. “I was respected for who I am because of my knowledge and understanding of the area of my practice.”

From early childhood onwards, Cody’s father fostered her innate confidence. “My father believed I had to be able to handle myself in a ‘man’s world,’” says Cody. “He would make me give speeches in public, and he would make me teach classes at the boys school he owned. It became very natural for me to handle myself in a male-dominated practice or classroom.”

While she enjoyed these experiences, Cody also found there was less room for error as a woman. She had to be sure her work was consistently flawless.

“I was very competitive; I always wanted to be the best,” she says. “I was a perfectionist and if I didn’t get 100 per cent on my exams I would be up all night telling myself, ‘Next time, study harder, work harder.’”

In the professional world, Cody’s high standards and relentless work ethic were immediately clear to those around her. She quickly distinguished herself, first as an engineer and then as president and principal shareholder of CCI Group Inc., a Toronto-based engineering consulting firm.

For Cody, helping others has always been a priority.

“When I was at university in Iran, I would go to hospitals for needy children,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep after, but I felt I had to do something.”

“Gina is an understated superwoman — her work ethic is off the charts,” says Johnny Zuccon, interim registrar at the Professional Engineers of Ontario, where Cody volunteered for nearly 20 years. “You can’t help but be in awe.”

As her business grew, Cody also made a point to be there for her family.

Daughter Tina remembers: “She would prepare dinner, and then spend three to four hours tutoring me in physics. We would be up until midnight sometimes, and she’d be waking up the next day at 5 a.m. to go to work.”

Her daughter Roya adds: “She’d get home every night regardless if she was working out of town. Her rule was that she had to be there by the time I woke up the next day. So she would say, ‘OK, I’ll fly out to the site but I’m taking the red eye home to be there before you get up.’”

Cody is currently a member of Concordia’s Board of Governors and vice-chair of the Campaign for Concordia for the Toronto region. She has also given time to the Canadian Standards Association; the Canadian Condominium Institute; the Professional Engineers of Ontario; and Sketch, an organization that supports young people who are struggling with poverty or homelessness.

Cody’s niece Christine Anahita Bigtashi, an engineering graduate student at Concordia, says her aunt is an inspiration. “Gina always told me to make sure I am doing something I love. She always loved what she did and it helped push her towards her goals. And if she can do it then I can, too.”

This ethos clearly extends to Cody’s alma mater.

“Concordia is a great institution — the level of education is amazing,” says Cody. “My gift is for the next generation, so that more people can succeed like I did. And hopefully, many years from now, there will be a similar donation. Together, we can make Concordia an even better and more amazing university for the next generation.”
 

Find out more about Gina Cody's $15-million gift to Concordia.