Beedie School of Business News

How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending June 18, 2010.

World Cup Soccer

• The Globe and Mail quoted SFU Business prof Leyland Pitt in a story about an ambush-marketing stunt at a FIFA World Cup soccer game. More than 30 women stripped down to orange mini-dresses—in a promotion for orange-themed Dutch brewery Bavaria NV.
  Said Pitt: “I can see lots of [particularly Dutch] fans seeing this as a victory of the little guys over the giants.” Such as Budweiser, an official cup sponsor.
  Pitt also said: “I think FIFA and the South African police have made fools of themselves. You’d have thought the South African police had better things to do than arrest a whole bunch of pretty girls in orange dresses.”
  The Globe story also ran on CTV.
  And Pitt also appeared on CFAX Radio Victoria.

BC News

• David Thomas, international management prof in SFU Business, talked to CFAX Radio, Victoria, about the significance of the numerous work-related suicides and labour protests that are now gripping a once-acquiescent population in China.

Dutch mini-skirt marketers 1, South African police 0

Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail  June 17, 2010

n a popular ad for ESPN’s coverage of this year’s World Cup, the U2 front man Bono declares the tournament is, “not about communism, socialism, or capitalism.” But a savvy marketing stunt unfolding this week in Johannesburg illustrates how the World Cup is as much about the contemporary mechanics of capitalism – a tasty brew of big money, sex, and media manipulation – as it is about professional sport.

South African police charged two Dutch women Wednesday with ambush marketing after they and more than 30 alleged co-conspirators had stripped down to orange mini-dresses while watching the Netherlands-Denmark match from the Soccer City stands on Monday morning. Barbara Castelein and a dental assistant from Amsterdam who gave her name to the press as Mierte said they were given an all-expenses-paid trip to the game by the Dutch brewer Bavaria NV, which has been running an orange-themed promotion since April. Once on the ground, the women recruited up to three dozen others for the stunt.

A slick video which popped up Wednesday on YouTube shows the comely crew entering the stadium dressed in the colours of the Danish team until, about 25 minutes into the match, they reveal their clingy orange outfits bearing the Dutch brewery’s gold logo between the shoulder blades. In the run-up to the World Cup, Bavaria heavily promoted the possibility of female fans wearing the dress while attending games.

Budweiser is the official beer of the soccer tournament.

But as soon as they were taken into custody, the women became clear winners of their match against the authorities.

“I think FIFA and the South African police have made fools of themselves,” said Leyland Pitt, a professor of marketing at Simon Fraser University who co-authored a study published this year on ambush marketing. While he acknowledged FIFA needs to enforce the rights of its sponsors, the David-and-Goliath optics were bad. “You’d have thought the South African police had better things to do than arrest a whole bunch of pretty girls in orange dresses.”

FIFA was already on the defensive over a poll suggesting Nike, which has capitalized on the World Cup through savvy marketing despite not being an official sponsor, has seen far greater marketing gains from the tournament than either Adidas or Coca-Cola, both of which paid hundreds of millions for sponsorship rights.

And Mr. Pitt noted that most consumers don’t automatically side with sponsors simply because they have given large sums of money that help enable sporting events. “Sometimes the opposite happens. I can see lots of [particularly Dutch] fans seeing this as a victory of the little guys [Bavaria] over the giants [Bud],” he wrote in a follow-up e-mail. Indeed, in the way of such matters these days, a Facebook group quickly formed after the Bavaria women were released: “Steun de oranje babes in Zuid Afrika!” which translates as “Support the orange babes in South Africa!”

But the World Cup host was in a tough spot. It won hosting rights, in part, by impressing FIFA with its modern intellectual property laws and enforcement mechanisms. In 2006, the South African government declared the World Cup to be a “protected event” under its commercial laws and thus subject to special consideration. Penalties can include jail time, though not usually for a first offence.

A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch InBev, which makes Budweiser, declined to comment on whether the company considered a stunt like Bavaria’s to be a serious threat to its costly sponsorship and brand. He added that the company was not involved in the legal action against the women. “That’s between FIFA, SA police and Bavaria I believe,” wrote Michael Torres in an e-mail.

Original article from the Globe and Mail posted here.

Grades alone not enough to get into SFU business school

By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun June 10, 2010

To combat sky-high admission requirements, Simon Fraser University’s school of business is changing its application process to take into account extracurricular activities.

A 92-per-cent high school average is needed to get into the popular program, but that’s about to change.

As of next year, all students will be selected based on “broad-based” admission requirements.

“When our admission average exceeded [those needed for] engineering, I said, ‘There’s something wrong,’ ” Colleen Collins, SFU’s associate dean, faculty of business, said. “We do have some kids who, it blows my mind that they can pull of the grades and do all of that. But once we’ve admitted Superman and Superwoman, let’s see who else is doing great things out there.”

The school decided to shake up its admission process, which sees 1,400 applications for 450 spots, by starting a pilot project to look at the extracurricular lives of students.

Musicians, artists, athletes, social activists and community leaders are now sought after for the school of business.

“These kids who’ve completed Royal Conservatory of Music, it shows dedication and commitment. It shows creativity and sensitivity,” Collins said.

“Athletes who’ve competed at a provincial or national level show that they can handle pressure and they can handle teamwork and those all contribute to making a future business leader.

“Students who’ve been a senior leader in Guides, or Cadets — those are great kids. They’re good leaders, good with people, can manage their time.”

Grades will still count, and Collins said that while the pilot project allowed some students to get in with an average of 80 per cent, most were still above 85 per cent.

At the University of B.C., the Sauder School of Business has also required applicants to complete an application containing personal information for the last four years.

All applicants must meet a minimum 84-per-cent average, plus the supplemental form. Both are given equal weight when deciding on admissions, Brian Sullivan, UBC’s vice-president, students, said in an interview.

UBC also allows applicants to some other programs, including sciences, who are near the required average cutoff, to provide supplemental information. The acceptance cut-off for sciences was 90.5 per cent this year, but students with 87 or 88 per cent still had a chance to get in if SFU liked their personal profile, Sullivan said.

UBC is considering allowing broad-based admissions to all programs, including arts, Sullivan said.

“It’s under active discussion,” he said. “There is, we agree, something that needs attention when we’ve got averages that get up this high to get in.”

Based on the success of the pilot project, SFU’s school of business will now accept all students based on more broad-based requirements, and other programs may follow suit.

“The university is watching us to see how it works,” Collins said.

Meanwhile, there are other post-secondary options for students who don’t have an A average.

Although applications are up this year at SFU, the required admission average is just 80 per cent for most faculties (other than business) and 82 per cent for arts and social sciences. At the University of Victoria, where applications are also on the rise, the required admission average is 75 per cent for arts and sciences, 77 per cent for engineering and 80 per cent for business, said Wendy Joyce, director of undergraduate admissions said. At UBC Okanagan, students are admitted with a 75-per-cent average, although some programs such as nursing and human kinetics require averages of above 90 per cent, Sullivan said.

Nancy Johnston, executive director of student affairs at SFU, said although demographers are not predicting more applications to universities from Grade 12, they are up across the sector.

She thinks the rise is the result of many factors, including the fact that most jobs now require at least some post-secondary education.

“It almost seems like the bachelor’s degree level of the new millennium is like the high school diploma of the ’70s,” Johnston said.

In other university news, UBC’s Okanagan campus will soon double its land area, as the UBC board of governors Wednesday approved the $8.78-million purchase of 103.6 hectares (256 acres) of farmland from the City of Kelowna.

tsherlock@vancouversun.com

Original article from the Vancouver Sun posted here.

How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending June 11, 2010.

BC News

• Marketing prof Lindsay Meredith was on CKNW, discussing at length the public-relations fallout and the political impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster:
  • “The longer you go without solving the problem, the more difficult it gets to make your point stick that you are indeed a worthwhile corporate organization and the more difficult it gets to keep the regulatory authorities and the federal U.S. government off your back. Let me tell you, the politicians worldwide are on high alert about this one. It was a big wakeup call for everybody and the entire oil industry is going to pay for this. They’re going to pay for it in spades.”
  • “Are we junkies for oil? You betcha. (But) as soon as you go offshore, as soon as you drill in the Arctic, you’re getting into very, very, highly vulnerable environmental areas. Any kind of screw-up in those areas is going to be a massive screw-up.  . . . The sensitive areas of British Columbia’s Queen Charlottes, for example. That mess on the Gulf Coast literally threw a major wrench into the works for Gordon Campbell and the guys who are trying to get some oil drilling activity here. If we restrict oil drilling in some of these more sensitive areas, it’s not going to make the demand go away. The only issue is we’re going to have to start scrambling harder for supply. What does that do for our friends in Alberta and the oil sands? Things look better and better.”
• Meredith was also in the Epoch Times, in a story suggesting the new Harmonized Sales Tax may generate a cash black market to avoid the tax.
  “Dr. Lindsay Meredith, a professor of marketing at Simon Fraser University, says the 12 percent HST in B.C. and 13 percent in Ontario are large numbers and if consumers can get around paying the new tax, they will.
  “‘As long as people are feeling a little bit poor, because of the amount of debt they’re carrying and feeling put upon by the tax level that’s hitting them—you’re going to see some of this underground behaviour going on,’ he says.”
• A Douglas Todd column in The Vancouver Sun looked at the challenges of “dual loyalties” of immigrants, loyalty to this country but also to a “home” state, society or religion. Quoting SFU ethicist Mark Wexler, Todd wrote:
  “Our sense of personal integrity and purity can feel as if it’s becoming undone, Wexler says, when we start asking questions such as: ‘How can I be loyal to two countries, particularly when one is at war with the other? How can I be loyal to my principles when I am drawn to many different and viable options?’ . . . (But) when we experience multiple loyalties, Wexler says, ‘The joys of a new sense of self come into being. There is the romance of what may be possible in an alternate world or an alternate identity.  This is far more than a delusion. It is the hope of becoming.’”
• Business prof Andrey Pavlov was in the Epoch Times, saying the recent Bank of Canada boost in its benchmark interest rate is further evidence of Canada’s leading position in the global economic recovery.

National News

• An outdoors column in the Winnipeg Free Press offered 10 reasons why the long-gun registry should be scrapped. The 10 came from a presentation to a House of Commons committee last week by Gary Mauser, prof emeritus (SFU Business) and a student of national and international gun control. Mauser concluded:
  “In sum, the test of any governmental program should be whether it meets its goals. In this case, the long-gun registry has failed.  It has failed to save lives. It has failed to reduce murder, suicide or aggravated assault rates. The long-gun registry continues to cost Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars each year. This money could be better spent on other more useful law enforcement measures, or be directed towards a number of other key priorities for Canadians such as health care.”

Education

• Following up on a story about admission grade-requirements at BC universities, The Vancouver Sun found a new angle at SFU Business:
  “To combat sky-high admission requirements, Simon Fraser University’s school of business is changing its application process to take into account extracurricular activities. A 92-per-cent high school average is needed to get into the popular program, but that’s about to change.  As of next year, all students will be selected based on ‘broad-based’ admission requirements.
  “‘When our admission average exceeded [those needed for] engineering, I said,  “There’s something wrong,” Colleen Collins, SFU’s associate dean, faculty of business, said. ‘We do have some kids who, it blows my mind that they can pull of the grades and do all of that. But once we’ve admitted Superman and Superwoman, let’s see who else is doing great things out there.’
  “The school decided to shake up its admission process, which sees 1,400 applications for 450 spots, by starting a pilot project to look at the extracurricular lives of students.  Musicians, artists, athletes, social activists and community leaders are now sought after for the school of business.”

Also in the News

• The Vancouver Sun featured SFU grad Claudia Li, who is “helping to save the world’s sharks, one bowl of soup at a time.”  The Sun continued:  “The business graduate from Simon Fraser University has founded Shark Truth, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping reverse the severe global decline in sharks due to the Asian demand for shark-fin soup.  . . . Li launched Shark Truth not to use attack or boycott tactics, but rather to engage the community on the issue. She started by asking Chinese couples to commit to not serving shark-fin soup at their weddings.”

SFU Business congratulates the newest group of CA students to successfully complete one of the most challenging professional examinations in the world – the CA profession’s Uniform Evaluation (UFE). Out of 1037 CA School of Business (CASB) students who successfully challenged the uniform evaluation (UFE), three of the top 12 are graduates from Simon Fraser University.

Sumeet Sangha

“Growing up, my career choices were all over the place,” says Sumeet Sangha. “I never saw myself as an accountant, but as I grew older, I realized that becoming a CA would provide me with a wide array of opportunities and career flexibility.”

So after earning a bachelor of business administration (with a concentration in accounting) from Simon Fraser University in 2007, Sumeet began articling with BDO Dunwoody LLP, in the firm’s Langley office. Currently, his focus is on assurance.

Looking back over the UFE experience, Sumeet says the biggest challenge was actually learning to study less.

“I knew the UFE was going to be the biggest exam I’d ever written, and my natural instinct was to study every waking hour and cram as much information into my head as possible,” he explains. “So I had to learn how to take my mind off the exam at the end of each study day, and take time to relax and recharge my batteries to keep my focus throughout the summer.”

That’s why Sumeet advises future UFE writers to maintain a level of balance.

“It’s important to not let the UFE process overwhelm you,” he says. “Maintaining a balance during the preparation will enable you to walk into the exam feeling fresh and sharp mentally.”

Sumeet says friends and family helped him achieve this balance by “keeping me level-headed, and providing the support I needed to get through the exam.” He also credits his success on the UFE to the support of several key people at his firm.

“David Reznick, CA, my UFE mentor, and Dan Rudd, CA—both from BDO—shared their UFE experiences with me, and provided various tips and pointers to help me succeed,” he says. “And my study partner at BDO, Justin Leung, provided the feedback and constructive criticism I needed to address my weaknesses.”

Sumeet remembers feeling a mixture of relief and uncertainty after the last day of the UFE. Now, with this hurdle past him, he says he’s excited to see what the future holds.

Dylan Vokey

“I felt an enormous sense of relief, but I had no idea how I’d done,” says Dylan Vokey, remembering his post-UFE mood. “I’m sure I was just as nervous as the next writer about my results until I received the good news from my firm.”

The firm is KPMG LLP in Burnaby, where Dylan is currently focusing on audits for mid-size private companies. The articling student graduated from Simon Fraser University in June 2009 with a bachelor of business administration and a certificate in liberal arts. Through his co-op terms with KPMG, Dylan had the opportunity to write the UFE right after graduation, before starting his articles full-time.

Looking back, he says his biggest UFE challenge as learning to trust his gut.

“The analytical side of my brain was approaching each new case with the previous one still in mind,” Dylan recounts. “It wasn’t until I began to follow my instincts fully, in the final week of studying, that I was able to adapt to each new scenario thrown at me, and offer analyses and solutions that were truly my own.”

He credits the “enormous” support provided by his firm for much of his success on the UFE.

“KPMG provided rigorous in-house preparation and a strong support system, and my KPMG UFE mentor, Steven Bao, CA, had an uncanny ability to call me at exactly the right time,” Dylan says. “Also, my study buddy Dorothy Woo and her mentor Ian Wells, CA (both at KPMG) marked my responses and really helped me keep on my toes.

“I am also grateful for the support of my parents Richard and Arlene Vokey, former journalists and now novelists, and my wonderful girlfriend Rebecca, a literature student,” he says. “They helped me find my personal approach to the UFE: ‘First, find the plot; second, finish the story.’”

As for how his own story will unfold, Dylan is weighing several possibilities.

“I’ve always had an interest in corporate finance and private equity,” he says. “But I also like the idea of graduate school.”

Ni (Nina) Wang

“Overcoming anxiety and believing in yourself is extremely important,” says Nina Wang. “For me, the most challenging thing about the UFE was staying focused and confident throughout the summer—especially toward the end of the process.”

This includes the actual writing of the exam. “The UFE covers a broad range of knowledge, so staying focused and confident over the three days is quite challenging,” she says. “I was definitely relieved when the exam was finally over—I didn’t know whether I had done well, but I knew I had given it my all.”

A graduate of Simon Fraser University, Nina earned a bachelor of business administration degree with a concentration in accounting and finance in 2008. She is currently articling with Deloitte & Touche LLP in Vancouver, with a primary focus on telecommunications companies.

“I chose the CA profession because it will open multiple opportunities in my life and provide flexibility for international learning,” she says. “In the future, I can see myself making a difference as a CA, and having an impact on people and things around me.”

Looking back over the UFE experience, Nina says she’s grateful for the amount of knowledge she gained throughout the summer leading up to the exam.

“I learned so much through my firm in-house, through module 6, through self-study sessions, and through discussions with my study group,” she says. “Along the way, I also had the opportunity to establish close relationships with my study group members: Ryan Chan, Nancy Kurokawa, and Andrew Lau. They were instrumental to my success.”

These study buddies were part of a larger support team of family, friends, and colleagues.

“My grandparents and my parents have provided tremendous support throughout my life, and were very supportive during the summer leading up to the exam,” Nina says. “My boyfriend and UFE mentor Sam K. Wong, CA, a controller with Pathway Capital Ltd., provided a lot of support and advice as well. My other mentor, Jason Tong, CA, a senior accountant at Deloitte, also provided valuable support and guidance. I thank him, and everyone at the firm—especially those on the UFE Committee—for their help.”

Her advice to future UFE writers is to remain relaxed and confident throughout the study process and during the exam.

“Believe in yourself,” Nina says, “and trust your professional judgment.”

SFU Business alumnus William (Bill) Rowe, who graduated from the Executive MBA program and was a longtime supporter and friend of Simon Fraser University, passed away on May 28, 2010. A Celebration of Life will be held in his honour on June 9 from 2-4pm at Villa Amato, 88 East 1st Ave., in Vancouver. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Union Gospel Mission or the Heart and Stroke Foundation may be made in Bill’s honor.

SFU Business remembers William (Bill) Rowe, 1933-2010

The SFU Business community mourns the passing away of William (Bill) Rowe – a champion of the business school who will be remembered for his enormous contributions to Simon Fraser University.

Bill earned his Executive MBA from SFU in 1972. He credited his experience at the university for helping him receive a number of promotions throughout his impressive career, and for giving him the opportunity to experience life in most of Canada’s major urban centres.

Born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Bill worked 39 years for Air Canada, spending many of those year’s with the airline’s senior leadership team — all the while engaging the community through his contributions to numerous organizations.  He was known by friends and colleagues for his “inquisitive, outgoing personality, and kind, caring disposition.”

SFU Business remembers Bill for his unwavering enthusiasm for, and commitment to the business school, the university, and the broader community. “For decades, Bill was an admirable advocate for the business school, and for higher learning generally,” said Daniel Shapiro, Dean of SFU Business. “He leaves with us a valuable and important legacy.”

At Simon Fraser, he held an Alumni Order-in-Council position on the university’s Board of Governors from July 1999 – 2005. He served for two years as the Deputy Board Chair, and seven years as the Chair of the 26-member External Advisory Board for the Faculty of Business Administration. He served as the Chair of SFU’s Finance and Administration committee, and served on the Audit, Nominating and Governance committees. In 2000, Bill chaired the search committee for a new President for the university. He also played a valuable leadership role in Bridge to the Future, the university’s first major fundraising campaign.

In 1995, he received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award from SFU, and in 1996, he was given the Outstanding Alumni Award for his service to the university.

His previously cited advise to students — “to recognize when opportunity knocks – never say ‘no’ officially” — speaks volumes about Bill’s spirit and positive attitude towards life and towards the community he cared so much about.

An Online Book of Condolences has been created for Bill at www.deltafuneral.ca

How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending June 4, 2010.

BC News

• The Vancouver Sun reported a dip in real estate prices and sales in the Fraser Valley.  “Andrey Pavlov, a business professor at Simon Fraser University, said this spring’s slowdown in the Fraser Valley has not been particularly startling considering . . . developers (last year) stopped building new homes and possible vendors of existing homes became reluctant to sell just as buyers began jumping back into the market. ‘Of course that was going to push prices very high very quickly,’ Pavlov said. ‘Now that situation has been remedied.’”

Also in Sports

• Second Run: The Hockey News developed a story from last week’s SFU news release from on a study, by prof Peter Tingling and Kamal Masri of SFU Business, of NHL entry draft decision-making. The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times also ran the news release.

The Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University has produced Accelerating Social Innovation, an externally-focused booklet that provides research and analysis from SFU Business researchers – in the realm of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and business ethics.

Produced as part of SFU Business’ sponsorship of the Business in Vancouver Colour Series (Green edition: Sustainability), held this year at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Accelerating Social Innovation offers insights into a number of timely issues in the area – from the embedding of sustainability into organizational culture, to climate capitalism and carbon markets, to the relationship between share values and CSR.

Click here to download the Accelerating Social Innovation booklet in PDF format.

T’is the season of assessment for most National Hockey League teams now that only two are vying for the Stanley Cup, but a new study finds that spending more money on innovation may not be the best improvement strategy.

“Wealth can play a role but there is no conclusive evidence that it is the prime driver of innovation,” says SFU business professor Peter Tingling, co-author of Feast or Famine: Does Wealth Help or Hinder Innovation in Sport?

In a study of NHL entry draft decision-making between 1997-2004 Tingling and co-researcher Kamal Masri conclude that levels of innovation are not likely to be improved by simply adding more funding.

“Some teams may innovate out of necessity, but we believe that innovative processes may be best supported by a narrow zone of wealth, between support and motivation as a lower boundary and complacency as a ceiling.

“Although drafting processes and player assessment are one of the few areas where teams are free to innovate, this doesn’t appear to be happening.”

Tingling suggests only a few of the “comfortably rich teams” such as the San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres have pursued truly innovative approaches such as use of statistical analysis and the creation of the “Corsi” number, a measure of shots directed at the net, named after Sabre’s goalie coach Jim Corsi.

He adds that fiscally challenged teams like Edmonton or Phoenix may claim to be “innovatively stifled,” while “filthy rich” Toronto or even Chicago may cave to “an aura of complacency.”

“It would seem that the prevailing approach for many teams is to pursue a strategy of quantity rather than quality, where wealthy teams have simply added or supported the expense of more scouts and greater travel,” Tingling says.

An informal survey of NHL general managers shows that less affluent teams have recently cut back on their scouting budgets while wealthier ones (Toronto now has 20 scouts and the league average is 13) are increasing it to take advantage of their financial capabilities.

“The reality is we simply don’t know if the well-known but expensive approach – allowing employees to experiment freely at resource abundant firms such as Google and Hewlett-Packard  – leads to more success than organizations that are forced to operate under Ernest Rutherford’s famous dictum, ‘We have no money. We must use our brains.’”

Their paper, presented earlier this week at the annual conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, was named best paper in the association’s Tourism and Sport Management division.

Leyland Pitt, Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University, has been appointed as the Dennis F. Culver EMBA Alumni Professor. Dennis Culver, who passed away on February 7, 2010, graduated from the first class of Executive MBAs at SFU, where he forged an enduring relationship with the institution. The EMBA alumni endowment – a fund Culver helped establish – created the EMBA professorship for which he is named.

“Leyland Pitt is richly deserving of this honour,” said Daniel Shapiro, Dean of SFU Business. “He is a great scholar and a great teacher, and has been associated with the EMBA program for many years.”

Pitt is a prolific researcher whose work has been published by leading academic journals, including The Journal of Advertising Research, The Journal of Advertising, Information Systems Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Sloan Management Review and MIS Quarterly. In 2000, he was the recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Tamer Cavusgil Award for best article in the Journal of International Marketing.

He has won many awards for teaching excellence, including the Dean’s Teaching Honour Roll at SFU Business; MBA Teacher of the Year at Copenhagen Business School; and Best Professor of Program, Joint Executive MBA, University of Vienna and University of Minnesota. This past May, he received the 2010 Pearson Prentice Hall Solomon-Marshall-Stuart Award for Innovative Excellence in Marketing Education, given annually by the American Marketing Association.

The Executive MBA program at SFU Business – the first of its kind in Canada – was established by Simon Fraser University for working professionals in 1968. Since then, more than 1500 executives have risen to leadership positions across a range of sectors in organizations locally, nationally and internationally.

About Dennis Culver, 1923 – 2010

Over the decades, Dennis Culver was a trailblazing graduate business student at Simon Fraser University; a committed and engaged alumnus; and a good friend to SFU Business. Born in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, and raised in Victoria and Vancouver, he created his chartered accountancy practice, Culver & Co., in 1954, and went on to serve as president to both the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC – receiving a lifetime achievement award from the latter.

Passionate about the value of higher education, Dennis graduated from the first class of Executive MBAs at Simon Fraser University. “Since that memorable beginning in 1968,” he wrote, “I have been proud to be associated with Simon Fraser University over many decades in a number of different capacities, and have had the joy of watching three of my children receive their own degrees from this remarkable university.”

Over the years, Culver was a consistent supporter of the school. He was instrumental in the success of the EMBA Alumni Association, and he chaired the committee overseeing the EMBA alumni endowment – a fund he helped establish.

The endowment is used to this day for scholarships for EMBA students. It is also used for what is now known as the Dennis F. Culver EMBA Alumni Professorship. In recognition of his contributions to the university, SFU also conferred upon him an honorary law degree.

As the first recipient of the Dennis Culver EMBA Alumni Chair, SFU Business Dean Daniel Shapiro has particularly fond memories of Dennis Culver. “Dennis was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word,” he said. “I have always tried to live up to his standards of excellence and commitment, and I am proud that his name will always be associated with SFU Business.”