Eight alumnae named to top 100 most powerful Canadian women

Jennifer Hatfield	Kimberley Amirault

By Matthew Fox

Kimberley Amirault, PhD'00, an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Jennifer Hatfield, PhD'01, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine, and Mary Rozsa de Coquet, BEd'79, DiPEd'88, LLD'06, whose Rozsa Foundation financed the Rozsa Centre on campus, were among eight U of C alumni honoured yesterday at an awards luncheon in Toronto for their inclusion on the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 list for 2008.

Published annually in The Globe and Mail, the awards represent proven achievers from many walks of life. The recipients are selected by an independent advisory board.

The Calgary-based Amirault is a performance consultant who works with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, world-class athletes and elite coaches, is the director of sport psychology at the Canadian Sport Centre Calgary and is the Canadian Olympic Committee’s lead specialist for sport psychology for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Since breaking into the professional sports teams ranks in 2001, she has worked with the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and the Canadian speedskating, cross country skiing, and women’s hockey teams.

Amirault also counts fellow alumnus and FirstEnergy Capital Corp. chairman Brett Wilson, MBA’85, as a client, and he is among a group of mentors that also includes Rangers’ president and general manager Glen Sather whom Amirault credits for her success. “Since you have been such an important part of my life … I view this as ‘our’ celebration,” she wrote in an email to her supporters. “You are the ones who help, teach, inspire and support me every day in the real things that matter so much.”

Hatfield is the director of the Health and Society stream in the Faculty of Medicine’s Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) program and of the BHSc global health program, and she, too, is quick to credit her mentors for much of her success.

“I have been given remarkable opportunities to pursue rewarding work here in Canada and overseas,” Hatfield says. “People like Dr. Billie Thurston, Dr. Tom Noseworthy and Dr. Benedikt Hallgrimsson have been incredible supporters, as has the Faculty of Medicine which has allowed me to follow my passion for undergraduate education and global health research.”

Hatfield’s presence on the WXN list is testament to her leadership in global health research, her work as a UN Mentor where she has worked with women in Afghanistan promoting gender equity and leadership opportunities, and her role with the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, leading delegations internationally to develop health research partnerships with Canada and Canadian institutions.

In addition to funding the Rozsa Centre, Rozsa de Coquet, president of the Rozsa Foundation since 1990, has led the Fine Arts Advisory Council on shaping the arts component of the U of C's Urban Campus, and helped initiate the development of a new MBA in arts management stream at the Haskayne School of Business.

"Philanthropy is not about recognition," says Rozsa de Coquet. "It's about making a long-lasting difference, both in the lives of individuals in and in the way society functions."

Other U of C alumni recognized on the list include Vianne Timmons, PhD'93, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Regina, Sherri Brillon, BA'81, executive vice-president, strategic planning and portfolio management at Encana Corp., Emily Zhang, BSc'05, co-president of the Calgary professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Lakshmi Raj, BSc'95, co-CEO of Replicon Inc., and Teri Currie, BSc'86, executive vice-president, human resources at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

The U of C alumni family congratulates these eight women on this national recognition. We are honoured to count each of you as one of our own!