Kim Valcourt, Recipient of AMBAQ's Bourse Émérite Desjardins Award

May 29, 2008

Kim Valcourt, who completed her MBA in November 2007, has been presented with the 2008 Bourse Émérite Desjardins award by the Association des MBA du Québec (AMBAQ). This $5,000 award is presented annually to one of this year’s graduating student or recent graduate (within the past 12 months), who has completed an MBA at a Quebec business school or management faculty. It recognizes excellence in academic achievement as well as leadership qualities. This year, six candidates were shortlisted for this award.

Kim Valcourt is not even 30 years old yet but she already has a number of outstanding achievements to her credit. During her years in college and university, she received numerous scholarships and honours, many of them from HEC Montréal. She also served on a number of different committees and worked as a volunteer for various charitable organizations.

As she received her scholarship at AMBAQ’s luncheon conference, Kim spoke of the enjoyment she derives from working in management consulting and of the important window that the MBA program opened for her. “I would like to thank HEC Montréal, which made me fall in love with the business world. The MBA program helped me develop professional bonds and friendships that will last throughout my career.”

Kim is currently working as a business optimization specialist for CN, putting her knowledge, leadership and energy to work for a world-class company. During her career, she also worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center and a large international management consulting firm.

While she was working on her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at École Polytechnique, Kim realized her dream of becoming involved in humanitarian aid by establishing Engineers Without Borders, whose mission is to make engineers aware of challenges in developing countries. École Polytechnique students are allowed to take part in engineering projects abroad, where they can contribute their skills and knowledge.