Gilbert Babin, winner of the 2023 Jean-Marie Toulouse engagement award
November 30, 2023
The 2023 Jean-Marie Toulouse Engagement Award was presented to Professor Gilbert Babin (Information Technologies) for his outstanding contribution to the internal functioning and development of HEC Montréal.
Professor Babin has an MSc in Computer Science from Université de Montréal and a PhD in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For 23 years now, he has enriched the School with his rigour, dedication, immense sense of collaboration, and transparency. This is what emerges from the testimonials in support of his candidacy, excerpts of which are given below:
“I need to say a few words about Gilbert’s generosity; he is generous with his time, with the results of his work that he shares graciously, and with the advice he readily gives so unassumingly. All of his colleagues and the entire student community have benefited from his desire to be of service. But by far the biggest beneficiary of his generosity has been the School, and it has emerged stronger as a result of it.”
– Michel Patry, Professor Emeritus, President and CEO of the HEC Montréal Foundation and former Director of the School
“He has been, in his own way, a leader in our community, and has encouraged us to contribute in the best way possible to HEC Montréal.”
– Sébastien Arcand, Professor and Director, Department of Management
“Gilbert is fundamentally a conscientious person with a clear penchant for a job well done, and he is always willing to help his colleagues and share his talent for using technological tools to improve the functioning of our organization’s systems.”
– Michèle Breton, Professor and Director, Department of Decision Sciences
Numerous engagements
In addition to his teaching duties, Gilbert Babin was also Co-director of the Maîtrise en gestion – commerce électronique [MSc in Electronic Commerce] (2001 to 2004; 2007 and 2008), Academic supervisor of the D.E.S.S. en gestion – commerce électronique [DESS in Electronic Commerce] (2001 to 2006) and Director of the Bachelor of Business Administration program (2011 to 2016).
Besides his contributions to the development of courses and programs, he was also appointed by his peers to represent them on the HEC Montréal Academic Council from 2002 to 2006. He also headed the Department of Information Technologies from 2017 to 2023, playing a leading role in the recruitment and development of faculty members. He has been on the School’s Academic Council for the past 16 years, as a result of his various leadership and representative mandates. He has also served as a donor on the HEC Montréal Foundation Board of Directors since 2018 and is involved in the School’s Centraide campaign year after year.
In terms of research, he has developed recognized expertise in modeling information systems and distributed processing on the web, co-authoring several articles, conference proceedings, books or chapters, reports, in addition to actively participating in the ERPsim Laboratory. He co-invented a business simulation game focused on sustainability management which was designed by the team at HEC Montréal’s ERPsim Lab. This team was presented the 2023 Curriculum Award by the SAP University Alliances Academic Board for the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).
Find out more