Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338

News Release

February 07, 2002

OAC names first-ever international advisory council

The University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) has announced its first-ever international advisory council, a 15-member board that will assist the college in strategic planning and development.

"This is a truly impressive group of individuals," University president Mordechai Rozanski said Wednesday during the OAC Alumni Foundation Dinner, where the advisory council was introduced. "They bring together a wealth of expertise that is international in scope, and promises an exciting and challenging exchange of ideas and advice." Rozanski added that the council was initiated by OAC's new dean, Craig Pearson. "This advisory council helps inaugurate a new era and a new leader for OAC. Craig is already making great strides on behalf of the college, putting his bold vision into action, and he has my full support."

Pearson, who took over leadership of OAC last fall, was a chief scientist with the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia. Prior to that, he was pro-vice-chancellor of the Gatton campus of the University of Queensland and executive dean of its faculty of natural resources, agriculture and veterinary science.

Pearson said the council will play a crucial role in boosting the college's global presence and will rely on OAC's history of "courageous and visionary" leadership. "I'm conscious that I am attempting to add value to an already top-class enterprise. But I aim for OAC to be the best of the best, and this requires us to set audacious goals, to raise the bar. This council will allow us to do just that, to develop strategies, monitor our performance and find new and innovative ways to serve our learners and our regional and global communities." The advisory council will be chaired by Ola Ullsten, a former prime minister of Sweden who received an honorary doctorate from Guelph in 1999. Ullsten was Sweden's ambassador to Canada and Italy and is the current chair of the Working Group on Global Deforestation Trends.

Other members are:

Bill Bodenhamer, president and owner of Toxin Alert Inc., which is now partnered with the University.

John Marshall Bryden, professor and chair of human geography at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Jason Clark, president of Clark Enterprises, Canada's leading poultry firm.

Peter Connell, president and founding director of the Kemptville College Foundation and former deputy minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Ron Doering, president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell, former executive director of the United Nations Environment Program.

Mary Lou Garr, chair of AgCare.

Peter Hannam, president of First Line Seeds of Guelph and a President's Council member.

Ginty Jocius, president of the Jocius Group, a marketing and communication company, chair of the OAC Alumni Foundation and incoming chair of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario.

Jim Krushelniski, president and CEO of H.J. Heinz Company of Canada.

Tony Leung, president and owner of Sanwa Growers Inc. in Florida, the largest U.S. produce supplier to the Asian food industry.

Ken Monteith, director of the Ridgetown College Alumni Foundation and a former MP.

Denis Perreault, founder of the Alfred College Foundation.

Moura Quayle, president of the Confederation of Canadian Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

Mary Smiley, chair of the Rural Economic Development Panel.

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