Toronto – Three distinguished alumni of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management were honoured this week with Rotman Alumni Awards for their significant contributions to their organizations, communities and the Rotman School and University of Toronto community. They were were honoured during an online gala as part of the school’s signature Reunite at Rotman alumni homecoming event.
Kim Shannon, MBA '93, who is the Founder Co-Chief Investment Officer of Sionna Investment Managers received the Rotman Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes a seasoned graduate’s significant contributions to their organization, industry, and community. Shannon started out in equities, rising up through the ranks and eventually serving as chief investment officer and senior vice president at Merrill Lynch Canada. In 2002, she made the leap and founded her own firm, Sionna Investment Managers, now one of Canada’s leading value investment firms, where she currently serves as co-chief investment officer. Concerned by the lack of women in the space, Shannon became involved with Variant Perspectives, and helped organize the group’s first value investing conference in 2019, aimed at breaking down barriers for women in finance.
“One of the keys to retaining women and growing their talent is hiring them in the first place,” says Shannon, who makes a point of hiring and mentoring women at Sionna. She has also returned to the Rotman School numerous times as a speaker, mentor and Reunite Fireside Chat host to help young professionals find their way in the industry. Among her many achievements, Shannon has previously been named a Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year, received the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award and won the Women’s Executive Network’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award.
“I’ve seen remarkable change in my 40-year career, and I know there’s still a lot of progress to be made and work to be done,” she says. “There’s no point in slowing down now. I’m going to continue to work on projects that are challenging, interesting and where I can continue to grow."
Cornell Wright, JD/MBA '00, who is Executive Vice President, Wittington Investments, Limited, received the Rotman Volunteer Excellence Award. The award recognizes the outstanding volunteer contribution of a graduate to the Rotman School and the University of Toronto.
Throughout his illustrious career, Wright has never lost sight of his responsibilities to his community. He’s put his knowledge and experience to good use while serving on boards of directors for charities and non-profits, including the National Ballet of Canada, and the University Health Network, where he serves as a trustee. He has also carved out time to contribute specifically to the Rotman School and the University of Toronto. While a senior lawyer at Torys LLP, he took the lead on hosting the firm’s annual U of T JD-MBA reception to support students and alumni, and he has received much acclaim (and a U of T Arbor Award) for his work on the Law In Action Project, a Faculty of Law initiative which supports high school students in achieving success. As well, he continues to host leadership and career development sessions for Black students and alumni and serve as a law mentor to students. He recently accepted an executive-in-residence position at the Rotman School, which is focused on supporting the development of mentorship programs for Black students and enhancing representation at the School.
“I’ve found that there have always been avenues to incorporate the community while developing my interests and fulfilling my passions and goals,” he says. “People often underestimate how much they have to offer, but I tell them to find the time. Leverage your skills and knowledge. You have the power to drive change in your community.”
Nuha Siddiqui, BCom'18, who is CEO & Co-founder, erthos, received the Rotman Leader to Watch Award. This award recognizes a young graduate who is having a tremendous impact on their industry, and who has demonstrated a commitment to giving back to their community. When her peers headed off to full-time jobs after graduation, Siddiqui decided to go full-speed with erthos, which creates plant-powered alternatives to traditional plastics, completing the Next 36 accelerator program and the Creative Destruction Lab program at Rotman. Within a year, the startup raised over $7.3 million and kicked off a global manufacturing pilot. Today, she often comes back to Rotman to speak to students about the potential impact they can make.
“I think young people should know that being a student is not a restriction,” she says. “You don’t need permission to think big. Never wait to make an impact.”
The Rotman Alumni Awards kicks off the Reunite at Rotman homecoming event, which brings together the School’s global alumni community. Reunite at Rotman is the School’s premiere alumni event and was held online this year on September 29 and October 1. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca/reunite.
Biographies of the Award Winners.
Kim Shannon, MBA '93 - Rotman Lifetime Achievement Award
Kim Shannon founded Sionna Investment Managers, one of the largest independent investment firms led by a woman, in 2002. She serves as the lead Portfolio Manager on Sionna's Large Cap, All Cap and Focused Canadian Value strategies. Since joining the industry in 1983, she has received numerous awards, including Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year (2005), the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award (2007), Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award (2007, 2017) and the Rotman Women in Management Association Top 10 Award (Entrepreneur Category, 2015). She is on the board for the Brandes Institute, Ontario Arts Foundation and United Corporation. She is a member of the C.D. Howe Institute’s National Council and the CFA Institute Board of Regents (previously served as its chair) and is a past President of the CFA Society Toronto. Shannon also serves as a board member with the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance and previously served as Chair of its Governance Committee. She was amongst a select group of industry experts to present at the 2020 Columbia Business School’s “From Graham to Buffett and Beyond” Omaha Panel and co-hosted the female-led Variant Perspectives Value Investing Conference in 2019, which featured Warren Buffett as a keynote speaker.
Cornell Wright, JD/MBA '00 - Rotman Volunteer Excellence Award
Cornell Wright is Executive Vice President of Wittington Investments, Limited (the principal holding company of the Weston-Loblaw-Choice Properties group) and is to become President at year-end. Wright joined Wittington on May 1, 2021 following a 20-year career at Torys LLP (a law firm), where he was a leading corporate lawyer. He served as Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department and former co-head of the firm’s M&A Practice. As a lawyer, his practice focused on M&A transactions, both public and private, and other critical situations. He played a lead role acting for some of Canada’s largest public and private companies in their most significant strategic matters. Wright has a broad range of experience in complex transactional, securities, family-controlled business, private equity, regulatory, governance, activism and compliance matters. He has also regularly counselled boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters, crisis management and shareholder engagement issues. He is a Fellow of The American College of Governance Counsel and a director of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada. Actively involved in the community, Wright is a trustee of University Health Network, Canada’s largest academic health sciences centre and Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Ballet of Canada. In 2018, Cornell served as Chair of the Canadian Arts Summit, an annual gathering of leaders from Canada’s largest arts institutions organized by Business/Arts. He is a former director of the Loran Scholars Foundation and The Learning Partnership, which promotes publicly funded education in Canada. Wright holds JD and MBA degrees from the University of Toronto and a BA from McGill University.
Nuha Siddiqui, BCOM '18 - Rotman Leader to Watch Award
Nuha Siddiqui is the CEO & Co-founder of Canadian based green-tech startup erthos which creates plant-powered alternatives to traditional plastics. Single-use plastics made with erthos solutions are compostable, and compatible with existing plastic technology, making plant powered plastics the natural choice. Siddiqui founded the company while still completing her degree at the University of Toronto Rotman Commerce program, where she specialized in Business & Environmental Economics. After graduating, Siddiqui launched erthos full-time, scaled up her team to 20, raised over $7.3 million within a year and launched global manufacturing pilots to help tackle the issue worldwide.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca
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Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
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