Benefactors & Sponsors

Since 1952, McMaster University has offered a business program that has created many industry leaders. In 1992 the School of Business expanded due to the generous support of Canadian entrepreneur, Michael G. DeGroote. Our benefactor's financial leadership, along with that of other major supporters, ensures that the DeGroote School of Business continues to be recognized as an international leader in innovative approaches to teaching, learning and service to the business community.

In 1992 the School of Business expanded due to the generous support of Canadian entrepreneur, Michael G. DeGroote. Thanks to his support, McMaster became home to the first named business school in Canada. A noted entrepreneur, DeGroote purchased and grew Laidlaw Transport Ltd., a company that became the largest school bus operator and third largest waste management company in North America before it was sold in 1988.

Milli Gould is known for her eponymous destination fashion boutique located in Hamilton. Thanks to a $500,000 donation from the Gould family, in 1999 the School of Business opened the Allen H. Gould Trading Floor, a unique interactive, experiential classroom, where students learn the fundamentals of the capital markets. It is comprised of 21 state-of-the-art Reuters stations, two Pro-Quad Bloomberg terminals and two Trans-Lux boards delivering real-time data feeds from all North American exchanges.

Russell C. Boychuk is President and owner of Upper Canada Securities Inc. and Chairman and CEO of the All-Canadian Group of Funds. In 2005, Boychuk donated $500,000 to the DeGroote School of Business to support the continued delivery of the real-time Reuters data to the Allen H. Gould Trading Floor. The data allows students to track market activity from a variety of North American exchanges, and to participate in learning about market activity and influences.

Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (formerly Market Regulation Services Inc.), the independent regulation services provider for Canadian equity markets, is providing $500,000 over four years to sponsor an ongoing lecture series and an annual conference which will both focus on current Canadian and international financial market issues. The DeGroote programs are the first such academic programs to be sponsored by IIROC.

In 2001, Michael Lee-Chin, CEO of AIC Group of Funds, Canada's largest privately held mutual fund company, announced a $5 million gift to create the AIC Institute for Strategic Business Studies at the DeGroote School of Business. The AIC gift supported the creation of a chair in Investment and Portfolio Management, two professorships, and a $500,000 fund to provide scholarships to business students. AIC also helped to finance the building of a new wing on the business school, a state-of-the-art facility that houses the Institute for Strategic Business Studies.

Ron Joyce is the owner of the first Tim Hortons located in Hamilton and founder of the Tim Horton Children's Foundation. In 2007, Joyce donated $10 million to help launch McMaster University's Burlington campus. The new campus will house graduate and executive leadership programs from the DeGroote School of Business. Joyce chairs The Campaign for McMaster University.

Teresa Cascioli, formerly the CEO of Lakeport, took a bankrupt Ontario brewery and made it into a stunning financial and marketing success. In 2007, Cascioli donated $1 million to fund the Teresa Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership. The chair will help to educate budding entrepreneurs and aid them in developing essential entrepreneurial skills.

Wayne Fox is a career banker who spent more than 30 years working in the finance sector, first at Wood Gundy Inc. and later at CIBC following the merger of the two companies. One of Fox’s most notable contributions at McMaster is his $1 million donation to the Wayne C. Fox Chair in Business Innovation in the DeGroote School of Business. Since 2000, the DeGroote Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award has been known as the Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award.

CIBC contributed $1 million to establish the CIBC Chair in Financial Markets. Professor Clarence Kwan has held this research chair since 2003. The CIBC Chair studies portfolio analysis, investments, financial theory and financial education. Contributions to the field of study involve using basic mathematical tools to solve portfolio selection problems that properly incorporate relevant institutional features, as well as providing economic insights and intuitive explanations of portfolio decisions.