Toronto – A newly-opened event space at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management which has already hosted events with global leaders from the fields of management, politics and academics has been named in honour of one of the School’s leading benefactors.
The space will be known as Desautels Hall in honour of Dr. Marcel A. Desautels, befitting the school’s most generous donor, who has given an extraordinary $41 million to the Rotman School.
The announcement was made today during a special presentation to Desautels at the Rotman School’s annual Life Long Learning Conference for alumni and members of the business community by University President David Naylor and Rotman Dean Roger Martin.
“We are eternally grateful for the support, both moral and financial, the School has received from Marcel,” says Roger Martin. “Integrative Thinking is at the heart of all we do at the School and Desautels Hall is a vital space which allows us to connect with the wider community with our events and concerts.”
“Marcel Desautels is a man of extraordinary vision and generosity who has played a singular role in the growth and development of the Rotman School of Management. His framing of the challenges in modern management education, and his multiple benefactions, have positioned U of T to help form the next generation of Canadian and global business innovators,” says David Naylor.
Desautels is the president and CEO of the Canadian Credit Management Foundation. At the Rotman School, his donations have established the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, supported student scholarships and helped the School open a new facility last year. The expansion doubles the amount of teaching, research, study, presentation and special event space available to the Rotman School community. The nine-story-high project is seamlessly integrated with the Rotman School’s existing home and provides a new home to several of the Rotman School’s research and education centres including the Desautels Centre. The expansion also includes the state-of-the-art Desautels Hall which can seat up to 500 people for a lecture, class or special event.
The Desautels Centre has quickly gained an international reputation through its work on researching, understanding and teaching Integrative Thinking. Integrative thinkers build models rather than choose between them. Their models include consideration of numerous variables — customers, employees, competitors, capabilities, cost structures, industry evolution, and regulatory environment — not just a subset of the above.
Desautels is well-known for his support of Canadian post-secondary education including the University of Toronto as well as the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba and the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.
The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world’s most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions. The School is currently raising $200 million to ensure Canada has the world-class business school it deserves. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice 416.946.3818
E-mail mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
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