News > 2013 > Desjardins boosts its support for Campus Montréal with a new $3.5 million donation to HEC Montréal

Desjardins boosts its support for Campus Montréal with a new $3.5 million donation to HEC Montréal

December 10, 2013

The Desjardins Group has boosted its support for Campus Montréal, the joint fundraising campaign by HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and Université de Montréal, to $4.5 million. As part of the Campus Montréal campaign, Desjardins today made a sizeable gift of $3.5 million to HEC Montréal. This generous donation comes on top of another $1 million that Desjardins has already contributed to Polytechnique Montréal.

The gift to HEC Montréal will allow the School to carry out ongoing research and study projects on the co-operative model. HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry is delighted with this support. He notes that HEC Montréal and the Desjardins Group already have a long history of collaboration, and that he felt it was time to put the relationship on a more formal footing. “The co-operative model has been attracting growing interest around the world since 2008, since co-operative businesses more easily weathered the crisis. We want to better understand this phenomenon and train the next generation of managers so that they are even better equipped to contribute to our society’s development.” In the coming months, HEC Montréal and the Desjardins Group will be announcing some specific projects resulting from this partnership.

The Desjardins Group, Canada’s leading co-operative financial group, has hundreds of HEC Montréal graduates in its ranks. For President and Chief Executive Officer Monique Leroux, this partnership with HEC Montréal will benefit everyone. “Quebec has about 3,000 co-operatives in all sectors of the economy. For these businesses, as for any business, management excellence is a key to success. And management excellence is exactly what HEC Montréal represents. By working together we will contribute to the growth and recognition of co-operatives.”

 

About Campus Montréal

Campus Montréal is the joint fundraising campaign by HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and Université de Montréal. These three institutions make up the biggest Francophone university complex in the world, and the leading centre of university research in Canada. John Parisella is Executive Director of the Campus Montréal campaign, with Louise Arbour, Hélène Desmarais, Geoffrey Molson, Michael Sabia and Thierry Vandal serving as co-chairs. With a goal of $500 million, this is the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever launched by French-language university institutions. To date, the Campus Montréal major campaign has raised over $200 million.

 

About Desjardins Group

Desjardins Group is the fifth largest cooperative financial group in the world with assets of $210 billion. To meet the diverse needs of its members and clients, Desjardins offers a full range of products and services through its extensive distribution network, online platforms and subsidiaries across Canada. The group has one of the highest capital ratios and credit ratings in the industry, and outranks all American banks as the fourth safest and strongest bank in North America according to Global Finance magazine and Bloomberg News respectively. In keeping with their cooperative nature, Desjardins Caisses’ surplus earnings are reinvested into the communities they serve.

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Christophe Guy, Chief Executive Officer of Polytechnique Montréal, Michel Patry, HEC Montréal Director, Hélène Desmarais, Chair of the HEC Montréal Board of Directors, Monique F. Leroux, President and CEO of Mouvement Desjardins, Guy Breton, Université de Montréal Rector, John Parisella, Campus Montréal Executive Director.