Beedie School of Business News

Namesake and builder of SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business on leadership, entrepreneurship and taking life chances.

Joe Segal has never been one to mince his words – whether the topic is start-ups, philanthropy or the meaning of life. That’s a reflection of his gritty and inspired personal and business story. But it’s also an outcome of the values the namesake of SFU’s home for graduate business programs is so well known for: honesty, generosity, hard work and courage.

“Everything is a risk,” he says matter-of-factly when speaking of the complex intersection of career, business, family and health that forces individuals to make the hardest of life decisions.

Indeed, Joseph knows all about risk. He was born in Vegreville, Alberta, and grew up in a post-World War 1 era that included the Great Depression. It was a time when more fortunes were lost than made. But it was an environment that would help shape Joseph’s identity as a bold risk-taker and entrepreneur.

One of his first life adventures as a young man was spending two and a half years with the Calgary Highlanders, serving overseas for Canada during World War 2. Keep reading…

Tags: Burnaby Mountain, entrepreneurship, fashion retail, Harbour Centre, investment, Joe Segal, Kingswood Capital Corporation, Marshall Wells, philanthropy, real estate, retail management, Segal Graduate School of Business, sfu, Vancouver General Hospital, venture capital, Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Zellers

A historic and record-setting $22 million gift from alumnus Ryan Beedie and his father Keith underscores Ryan’s longstanding relationship with Simon Fraser University and the Beedie School of Business.

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On February 11, 2011, when Ryan Beedie and his father Keith made a record $22 million gift to Simon Fraser University’s business school, a bold statement was made not only about the future of the newly-named Beedie School of Business, but also about the school’s past.

It was symbolically captured by the euphoric response of the student body to the donation, as well as by the hundreds of enthusiastic e-mails and phone calls to the university and to Ryan Beedie himself from SFU’s alumni and the Canadian business community.

SFU was the place, after all, where a younger Ryan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1991. Fast-forward to today, and he is building one of the largest and most successful industrial property development companies in Canada – one that is expanding eastward and returning to residential construction as well. Keep reading…

Tags: Alumni, Bachelor of Business Administration, Beedie School of Business, Burnaby Mountain, entrepreneurship, finance, fiscal policy, innovation, Joe Segal, John Herzog, Keith Beedie, Kevin Falcon, philanthropy, property development, Ryan Beedie, Segal Graduate School of Business, Simon Fraser University, student experience

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University has launched Ideas@Beedie, a digital magazine showcasing the business school’s academic research, industry impact and engagement with the community.

The magazine is available as both an app for Apple’s iPad, as well as in digital magazine format on the Beedie School of Business website.

The theme of the inaugural summer issue is social media – a growing area of focus for business researchers. Beedie professors have garnered numerous awards for social media research in recent months, and the school is home to a number of faculty and students who are using social media to engage with academics, businesses and the wider community.

Future issues of Ideas@Beedie will delve into themes such as international business, sustainability, entrepreneurship and business technology.

“Our goal is to highlight the breadth and depth of our business ideas to our readers,” said Daniel Shapiro, Dean of SFU’s Beedie School of Business. “With Ideas@Beedie, we hope to convey some of this scholarly activity in ways that are both relevant and insightful.”

Among the research topics explored in the first issue of the magazine are the advent of so-called mutated advertising in the Web 2.0 environment; the engagement of consumers using social media tools; and the growing usage of sustainability-geared apps for smartphone devices. The publication also explores management lessons to be learned from Vancouver’s infamous Stanley Cup rioting in 2011.

The e-magazine also features extensive profiles of Ryan Beedie and Joe Segal, both of whom have played extraordinary roles in the growth of the Beedie School of Business.

The launch of Ideas@Beedie comes on top of an extraordinary 18 month period for the Beedie School of Business. In February of 2011, the school received a record-setting $22 million gift from alumnus Ryan Beedie and his father Keith. Since then, it has launched a number of ambitious initiatives, including the Americas MBA for Executives, with partners in Brazil, Mexico and the United States; an Executive MBA for Aboriginal Business and Leadership, the first program of its kind; Canada’s largest undergraduate student-managed investment fund; and a high-technology entrepreneurship incubator.

This past spring, the school received endorsement from two prestigious accreditation bodies: the European Foundation for Management Development (EQUIS) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

In addition, the school has vaulted into the world’s upper echelon of research business schools – placing among the top 75 for business research, and the world’s top 25 for management-specific research.

The iPad app can be downloaded at the Apple iTunes store, at http://itunes.apple.com/az/app/ideas-beedie/id532907167?mt=8

The magazine can also be viewed on the web with most browsers at: http://beedie.sfu.ca/ideas

Tags: AACSB, Apple, apps, BBA, Brazil, Daniel Shapiro, EMBA, engagement, EQUIS, Ideas@Beedie, innovation, iPad, Joe Segal, Keith Beedie, management, MBA, Mexico, Research, Ryan Beedie, smartphones, social media, sustainability, United States