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$2.5 million from BMO 

By Barbara Black

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Will fund amphitheatre and lecture series

BMO Financial Group has given $2.5 million to Concordia to fund the 300-seat hall that will be built over two levels of the new John Molson School of Business on Guy St. at De Maisonneuve Blvd. The donation will also fund a lecture series on business ethics and governance when the building opens in 2009.

The BMO Amphitheatre will be the main venue for internal and external events, and the centerpiece of the new building’s ground floor and lobby.

The source of this generosity was BMO President L. Jacques Ménard, O.C., a steadfast friend of Concordia. Ménard is a 1967 Loyola College alumnus. He was an active member of the Board of Governors, and chaired the leadership gifts division of the last capital campaign. In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from Concordia for his devotion to the university.

In a speech to a room filled with JMSB staff and supporters on Dec. 4, Ménard reaffirmed his loyalty to the university, and said the $2.5 million gift is the largest BMO has given to an educational institution.

He also talked about the ties between the Bank of Montreal and the Molson family, who have been significant donors to Concordia’s business school, formerly known as the Faculty of Commerce and Administration.

For about 70 years, Molson had its own bank, which was absorbed by the Bank of Montreal in 1925. There have been seven Molsons in the executive offices of the Bank of Montreal since 1824, and in 1926, a Molson became president.

Ménard said he wanted remind elected officials and business leaders that Quebec universities, Concordia included, are woefully underfunded, and he wants them to step up to the plate so that academic standards are not compromised.

“This support from the BMO Financial Group, under the leadership of Jacques Ménard, is public recognition of the quality of teaching and research at the JMSB,” said Dean Sanjay Sharma.

“Since graduating from Loyola College in 1967, Mr. Ménard has always been there to lend a helping hand to Concordia. He is an alumnus par excellence, and an inspiration to others.”

Sharma told the audience about the “golden year” that the JMSB student competitors have enjoyed in 2007 (see Competing from Hong Kong to Trois-Rivières). Board of Governors chair Peter Kruyt, Vice-President Kathy Assayag and Acting President Michael Di Grappa all thanked Ménard and the bank for their vote of confidence in Concordia’s future.

Then it was time for the visitors to don hard hats and have a closer look at the new building, and the site of the two-storey amphitheatre on the main floor. The building will rise to 15 storeys and feature the latest environmental technology. See our story on its use of solar energy, and we’ll bring you more details on the building’s innovative features in future issues of the Journal.