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On September 6 at Convocation Hall, first-year engineering students kickstarted their academic career with a plenary lecture filled with inspiring words from Faculty leaders, and one of U of T Engineering’s successful graduates, Canadian entrepreneur and telecommunications executive Anthony Lacavera (CompE 9T7).

Before Lacavera became the Chairman and CEO of Globalive Communications Inc. and WIND Mobile, he was a computer engineering student hoping to make an impact on Canada and the world. The 1,400 first-year students, listening intently to the business leader’s words, have joined U of T Engineering hoping to leave a similar, positive impact on the world around them.

“Like you here today, Anthony is the best among the best,” said Dean Cristina Amon. This year’s incoming U of T Engineering students make up the strongest class in the Faculty’s history, with a collective entering average of 91.3 per cent.

Dean Amon, along with Professor Kim Pressnail (CivE), First Year Chair, began the inaugural lecture by reminding students that they are starting out at the very best engineering school in Canada, “… and I believe soon to be, the best in the world,” said Dean Amon.

“Students, today you begin a journey – a journey not without its challenges, but you didn’t decide to study Engineering because you thought it might be easy. You came here seeking a challenge,” she added.

Overcoming challenges was one of the messages of Lacavera’s lecture. As head of two of the leading, fastest-growing companies in Canada, he’d seen his share of setbacks before turning WIND Mobile into Canada’s first independent wireless carrier in over a decade, and a powerful industry competitor.

Humility, persistence and hard work got him there, said Lacavera. At the lecture, he also urged students to value their time at U of T Engineering, build relationships – even asking students to introduce themselves to the person beside them – and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit.

“You need an entrepreneurial spirit to turn an idea that will change the world, into reality,” he said.

Lacavera was able to turn his vision, of a more globally competitive telecommunications market, into reality in 1998. A year after graduating, he launched Globalive Communications. Then, he initiated a groundbreaking public engagement campaign that asked Canadians what they wanted in wireless service. Built on feedback from thousands of Canadians, Lacavera launched WIND Mobile in 2009, a wireless provider used by more than half a million Canadians.

He’s been named CEO of the Year for 2010 by Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine and one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, to name a few achievements. Lacavera is also the founder of the Shamba Foundation, a charity that provides event space and staff at no-cost for charitable fundraisers.

He hopes to hear the same stories of triumph and philanthropy from the students sitting before him. “When I look out, I see future leaders of our country,” he said. “You have a wonderful journey ahead.”

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