McGillians in the Greater Toronto Area celebrated the remarkable achievements of their peers at the annual McGill Toronto Excellence Awards – a lively luncheon filled with inspiring stories of alumni making a difference in their fields, communities and at their alma mater.
This year’s emcee, Jamie Lee Deonarain, BA’13, was a familiar face to many local McGillians due to her active involvement over the years with the Toronto branch of the McGill Alumni Association.
Entrepreneur Michael Latifi, MBA’89, received the top honour – the Distinguished Leader Award – presented to a McGill graduate who has displayed exemplary leadership in their chosen field demonstrated by a prolific career.
The longtime Toronto resident has built one of the largest food manufacturing companies in Canada, with an impressive global footprint. Headquartered in Markham, Ont., Sofina Foods Inc. employs 18,000 people across Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany and France.
Latifi’s success is even more remarkable given that he was thrust into the role of political refugee after arriving in Canada to study in 1978.
McGill gave him far more than a degree, said Latifi, the founder, chairman and CEO of Sofina Foods Inc., in his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony held in downtown Toronto on June 18. With nearly 30,000 graduates in the GTA, the region is home to McGill’s largest cohort of alumni outside Quebec.
“It gave me confidence. It taught me how to think critically, challenge assumptions and embrace lifelong learning. It exposed me to people from different backgrounds and perspectives,” Latifi said. “Most importantly, it showed me that excellence is not a destination, but a lifelong continuous pursuit.”
Years later, Latifi found himself drawn to the food industry and the “opportunity to build something meaningful” that would create jobs, support families, and contribute to communities.
He expressed gratitude for the award and the role McGill has played in his life.
The education I received opened doors that I could never have imagined as a young newcomer to Canada,” Latifi said.
Stephanie Gutnik, BA’11, received the Rising Star Award – the latest accolade in her impressive career at the intersection of advertising and technology.
Gutnik currently serves as president of Tuxedo Concepts, a business strategy consultancy, and executive vice-president, omnichannel, at Wilkins Media. She earned her PhD in Business Administration while working full time, producing novel research on the advertising effects of emerging media and shares her insight at advertising events around the world. She has also written the children’s book, My Very Best.
McGill provided the structure that I could go and really have a global career in business and advertising and also take advantage of the way that I was taught, which I then applied to an MBA and a doctorate later on,” Gutnik said.
The ceremony also honoured Dr. Lancelot A. Brown, DDS’88, with the Impact Award for his visionary advocacy, inclusive leadership, and the meaningful impact of his many contributions to the community.
A graduate of McGill’s dental program, Dr. Brown has helped expand access to dental education by co-founding the Caribbean Entrance Bursary at McGill and establishing the Dr. Lancelot Brown Dental Scholarship through the Jamaican Canadian Association.
He has remained deeply engaged with McGill’s Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences and been a powerful ambassador for equity, diversity, and inclusion. He has also funded a dental operatory in the Faculty’s Undergraduate Teaching Clinic.
Being part of the McGill community here in Toronto has been wonderful because it’s literally an extension of the University,” said Dr. Brown.
He is part of a McGill alumni dentists study club in Toronto that gathers several times a year to discuss advancements in the profession and how to incorporate them in their practices. “It’s very supportive. I love that about the community here in Toronto,” he said.
Rounding out this year’s honourees was Ian Van Cortlandt McLachlin, BEng’60, who received the McGill Friend of Education in Toronto Award.
Since completing his engineering degree, McLachlin has supported McGill’s mission in many ways. He served as president of the McGill Alumni Association. He also taught courses on entrepreneurship as a faculty lecturer in the Desautels Faculty of Management, sharing his extensive industry experience in the investment banking sector and as an entrepreneur with McGill students.
He continues to empower the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs through the student awards he established in the Faculty of Engineering: The Ian McLachlin Prize for Entrepreneurship in Engineering and the 1989 Polytechnique Memorial Scholarships at McGill – 14 scholarships in the names of each woman killed in the tragedy – to honour them and support and promote women in engineering.
His daughter Sarah delivered his acceptance speech, including a moving account of his resolve to keep their memory alive.
When I was an engineering student at McGill in 1960, there was not a single woman in our class. This scholarship is meant, in its own small way, to ensure no woman doubts she belongs here,” McLachlin said.
"The inception of the scholarship is close to my heart. I have three daughters – Honor, Sarah and Lindsay – and though none became engineers, each of them earned her place at university. They remind me every day of the talent the world overlooks when it does not make room for women. Engineering needs talent.”