OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2012 - (Page 19)

PROFILE: PIERRE LASSONDE AND ThE REBIRTh OF ENGINEERING by Lisa E. Boyes Mining entrepreneur Pierre Lassonde, P.Eng., is a broadly educated, highly successful man known not only for sharing his good fortune with others, but also for championing Canada’s homegrown advantage through the “renaissance” of his profession. Born in Quebec, Lassonde holds a B.A., a B.Sc. in electrical engineering and an MBA. In 1982 he co-founded, with Seymour Schulich, Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation, the first such publicly traded resource royalty and investment company, before it was acquired by Newmont Mining Corp of Canada. Lassonde remained as Newmont’s President and Vice-Chair from 2002 to 2007 and returned FrancoNevada to the public market in 2008, with the largest mining initial public offering ever completed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Now chair of Franco-Nevada, Lassonde is a companion of the Order of Canada, an officer of the Order of Quebec and the recipient of numerous professional and mining-industry awards. He is also reflective, inordinately philanthropic and keenly interested in students. “I enjoy personally awarding the scholarships I’ve funded,” he says, “and asking students what their greatest challenges are in completing their degrees.” From his graduate work at the University of Utah, to another alma mater, Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, to several Ontario universities, and now York University, Lassonde has given generously. In November 2011, he donated $25 million, an unprecedented gift to York that builds on $50 million in capital funding from the Government of Ontario. Lassonde’s commitment is supporting undergraduate scholarships, creating a student-entrepreneur hub and helping to expand York’s current 300-student program into the new 2,000-student Lassonde School of Engineering. Beginning in September 2013, the Lassonde School will offer the fundamental engineering disciplines but at the intersection of engineering with business and entrepreneurism; law; design; communications; the humanities; public policy; and new methods of teaching. “All engineering schools will have to do the same thing as York,” Lassonde believes, “to create different individuals and different engineers than they did before.” It was Lassonde’s late first wife, Claudette MacKay-Lassonde, P.Eng., founder of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), who coined the renaissance term during the couple’s conversations on the future of their profession and the gaps in engineering education. They envisioned engineers and scientists who would be polymaths in the vein of other historic global citizens: da Vinci, Galileo, Alberti, Leibniz, Pascal, Newton, and others. In Canada today, Lassonde adds, “Engineering is an exploding component of life. Through high-tech development, [engineers] can capitalize on the strategic advantage of our resource economy, the necessity of our transportation systems, and the growth of small businesses,” while also understanding the impact of engineering decisions on communities and operating with a social and environmental conscience. Lassonde is a forward-thinker, yet he knows that the future isn’t cast in stone, or indeed titanium, steel or metal alloy. Looking back on his career, he says, “I didn’t know what I wanted to really do, not even up to and including my MBA years. I originally had architecture in mind. I was turned down three times — schools told me I had no talent. But I knew I was interested in starting my own business, and I was interested in construction.” Today he’s a great believer in five-year mini-plans for students and young professionals, with room for improvisation along the way. Lassonde’s graduate education brought him to the U.S., where he worked in construction management for Bechtel, one of the nation’s largest engineering firms. Planning, preparation and certification as a financial analyst then propelled Lassonde into precious-metals investing. There he met another Montreal native, Seymour Schulich, who became his lifelong friend and business partner, as well as a primary inspiration for Lassonde’s generosity to York University, through the model of York’s internationally recognized Schulich School of Business. Lassonde also has a cultural legacy of his own: an entrepreneurial father who owned several businesses in plastics, moulding and manufacturing. “I have been given much more in life than I ever, ever expected,” Lassonde concludes. In turn, he is warm, generous and committed to investing in Canada’s most precious resource — hardworking young men and women from all backgrounds. TheVoice Fall 2012 1 9

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2012

OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2012
Contents
Viewpoint
Newsbytes
A Great Day on the Green
Don’t Miss the 65th OPEA Gala
Engaging Tomorrow’s Engineers
Renaissance Plan
The Business End of Engineering
Profile: Pierre Lassonde, P.Eng.
Continuing Professional Development: Mandatory or Not?
PAN Expands Outreach to Ottawa
BIG Engineering
You’ve just had an auto accident. Now what?
Ask the Expert: Facing a Complaint
Keep Yourself Covered
What’s 2 + 2? Depends Who’s Answering!
Custom-built Learning for Engineers
Coming Up

OSPE - The Voice - Fall 2012