Honorary degree citation - Peter Godsoe

By: Lawrence Kryzanowski, June 1995

Mr. Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you Peter Godsoe, an outstanding business person. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scotiabank. In these and other roles, Mr. Godsoe has been an integral part of the institution's past successes, and of its innovative and international approach to banking. He is the authoritative speaker on the Canadian financial services industry in a global and re-regulated environment.

Born in Toronto, Mr. Godsoe obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Toronto in 1961. After spending three years with Price Waterhouse on its audit team, he enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Harvard University.

After graduating with a M.B.A. in 1966, he joined Scotiabank. He was promoted repeatedly, and served the bank at posts in major financial centres such as Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa and New York. Montréal has special significance to him, since it provided him with his initial exposure to what bankers call "loan quality".

Mr. Godsoe has been responsible for Investment and Corporate Banking at Scotiabank since 1977, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1993. Other positions include Chairman and Director of Scotia Futures Limited, and Vice-President and Director of Scotia McLeod Corporation/Holdings Inc.

Mr. Godsoe is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, a past chairman of the Canadian Bankers' Association, and a past president of both the Canadian Club and the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Toronto. He has been a director on the boards of both the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.

Mr. Chancellor, it is a privilege and a real honour for me to present to you, on behalf of the Senate and by the authority of the Board of Governors, Peter Godsoe, that you may confer on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.