Maria Scanga-Ricci (BCom), as Co-Chair of Fundraising for Ottawa’s Villa Marconi Long-Term Care Centre and Chair of the city’s Ital-Fest, came up with the novel idea of building the world’s largest marionette to create awareness for the Centre. When she recruited The Hon. John Baird, M.P., as an official witness, she was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was a fellow Queen’s alum (Artsci’92). After a year’s labour, the Centre’s efforts were recognized by Guinness World Records™, which now certifies that “The largest marionette was the mascot to Ottawa’s Ital-Fest, measuring 17 m, 82 cm (58 ft, 5.5 in) in height and was presented by the Villa Marconi Long-Term Care Centre during the annual Ital-Fest in Ottawa, Canada, on 6 September 2008.” Their entry beat the previous record of a 49-ft, 11-in marionette, held by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Jo-Ann McArthur (BCom) is Chief Strategist and Partner at fisheyecorp.com, a firm that creates “Marketing with Meaning” for companies across Canada. Her daughter Katherine (Scott) is a member of the Queen’s Commerce Class of 2016. Email: jo-ann.mcarthur@fisheyecorp.com
Published in: Winter 2013
Graham McBride, BCom, was appointed CEO of LifeLearn Animal Health in December 2020. “I’m thrilled and honoured to be part of a company—indeed, an industry—supporting the essential nature of veterinary teams and animal health services, which showed incredible resiliency and adaptability in 2020, despite enormous challenges,” Graham said.
Published in: Spring 2021
Ted Nash (BCom) published a book in April called Honeymoon in Greece and Other Misadventures, documenting 10 years of family travel in a humorous light. This book may be ordered on-line through Barnes & Noble, Amazon.ca, Chapters-Indigo, etc. (specify author and book title). Ted also took charge recently of CIBC's Strategic Merchant Bank, which continues to make structured investments in companies while also expanding its traditional investing scope to include opportunities that can further the institution's strategy. This move comes after four years of Ted’s leading the mergers and acquisitions practice for CIBC World Markets.
Published in: Summer 2009
Ian G. Nelmes (BCom) resides in France, where he owns and operates Le Macassar, an award-winning boutique hotel in the heart of the Somme, Picardy, and the memorial sites of the First World War. Email: info@lemacassar.com or visit (www.lemacassar.com)
Published in: Summer 2012
Andrew Pringle, BCom, writes that he and his fellow Commerce ’85 graduates convened once again for their annual winter dinner, which was held Feb. 26 at Via Allegro Ristorante in Toronto. “The evening is always a combination of great food and wine, catching up on news with one another, and a lot of ‘remember when’ stories,” he said. Pictured from left: Mike Detlefsen, Ted Nash, Mike Lyons, Steve Rotz, Stuart Clinton, Graham McBride, Andrew Pringle and Frank Vihant. Missing this year were Doug Dawdy and Andrew Brough.
Published in: Summer 2019
Gary Ito (MBA) has recently been appointed Chief Financial Officer at Allegro Development Corp., a provider of commodity value chain and risk management software, in Dallas, TX. Prior to this role, he was a Managing Director at MDS Financial Group.
Published in: Winter 2015
John Stackhouse, BCom’85, author of Planet Canada, was an inaugural recipient of the Nation Builders of the Year award from the National Angel Capital Organization. The new award highlights business leaders who are driving positive change in Canada.
Published in: Fall 2022
John Stackhouse, BCom, was appointed to the Queen’s University Board of Trustees in June 2018. John is senior vice-president in the office of the CEO at RBC. He is a former editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail and author of three books: Out of Poverty; Timbit Nation; and Mass Disruption: Thirty Years on the Front Lines of a Media Revolution.
Published in: Winter 2019
John Stackhouse (BCom) joined the Royal Bank of Canada as Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, advising the leadership team and board on global economic, social and political issues, while also contributing to the bank's thought leadership in Canada and abroad. In addition, he is a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and at the C.D. Howe Institute. He can be reached at john.stackhouse@rbc.com, as well as through LinkedIn and Twitter.
Published in: Summer 2015