1996 Fredericton Convocation
Dean, John
Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1996
JOHN REGINALD DEAN
to be Doctor of Science
It will surprise no one who knows John Dean well that his foremost competitor in the field of engineering is also his best friend. For John Dean has developed his firm, ADI Limited, into an international leader in the most gentlemanly, professional and humane way possible.
Good sportsmanship has been the theme of his entire life. A native of Campbellton, he showed an early and avid interest in hunting and other outdoor occupations. As a child growing up in modest circumstances, he had the initiative and ingenuity to make his own guns—though not always the best judgement of where to use them. To this day, stories are told about the shots he aimed over his schoolteachers' heads when they turned to write on the blackboard.
Misjudgement improved with age and, thanks to the encouragement of his teachers in Campbellton, he enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of New Brunswick in 1950. Never one to do things by half, he also married and began a family. He was known to his professors as a "brilliant" student and earned the John Stevens Prize for the highest standing in his class.
By the time he graduated in 1955, the principals of ADI Limited had their eye on him as a desirable employee, but it was to be a dozen years before he joined their ranks. He travelled to Rugby, England, on an Athlone Fellowship and completed a Master of Science degree in thermodynamics at the University of Birmingham in 1957. He returned to New Brunswick and joined NB Power, where he rose to be manager of production. After ten years' active involvement in the ambitious expansion of the province's thermal and hydroelectric plants, John Dean was at last wooed to ADI.
In the past 25 years during which he has served as president and CEO, John Dean has become synonymous with ADI Limited. Founded just over 50 years ago by a group of UNB professors, ADI became under his leadership an employee-owned, multi-discipline firm employing more than 200 highly trained engineers, architects, technologists, technicians, business professionals and office staff. Operating in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, India and Southeast Asia, it captured the title of "Canada's Best Service Company" from World Business magazine and was named by Arthur Andersen Consulting as one of the 50 best managed private companies in Canada.
All this John Dean achieved while contributing significantly to his profession and his community through service on the Association of Professional Engineers of New Brunswick, the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, and the Fredericton United Way.
Never once in all this time has he forgotten his—and the company's—roots. He is a member of the Board of Governors, a member of the Associated Alumni Council and an advisor to the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Administration. In 1995, on the occasion of ADI's golden anniversary, he approached the Faculty of Engineering to offer a major gift for the benefit of engineering education and to reinforce the existing close links between UNB and ADI. The result was the ADI Studio for Interactive Technology, a leading edge distance education facility in Head Hall and one of the most important and most generous local contributions to The Venture Campaign.
Throughout his career, whether living in cold-water flats or in more affluent circumstances, he has been ably supported by his wife Leitha (Turabull) and four children, two of whom have followed in his footsteps to become engineers.
John Dean took a local engineering consulting firm to international prominence and success—a sizeable and lasting contribution not only to Fredericton and New Brunswick but also to the Atlantic Region and Canada. Today, it is our privilege to honour the nationally and internationally known and respected business man and engineer who made this all happen.
Insignissima Praeses, amplissime Cancellari, tola Universitas, praesento vobis, Johannem Reginaldum Dean, ut admittatur, Honoris Causa, adgradum Doctoris in Scientia in Universitate Novi Brunsvici.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
JOHN REGINALD DEAN
to be Doctor of Science
It will surprise no one who knows John Dean well that his foremost competitor in the field of engineering is also his best friend. For John Dean has developed his firm, ADI Limited, into an international leader in the most gentlemanly, professional and humane way possible.
Good sportsmanship has been the theme of his entire life. A native of Campbellton, he showed an early and avid interest in hunting and other outdoor occupations. As a child growing up in modest circumstances, he had the initiative and ingenuity to make his own guns—though not always the best judgement of where to use them. To this day, stories are told about the shots he aimed over his schoolteachers' heads when they turned to write on the blackboard.
Misjudgement improved with age and, thanks to the encouragement of his teachers in Campbellton, he enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of New Brunswick in 1950. Never one to do things by half, he also married and began a family. He was known to his professors as a "brilliant" student and earned the John Stevens Prize for the highest standing in his class.
By the time he graduated in 1955, the principals of ADI Limited had their eye on him as a desirable employee, but it was to be a dozen years before he joined their ranks. He travelled to Rugby, England, on an Athlone Fellowship and completed a Master of Science degree in thermodynamics at the University of Birmingham in 1957. He returned to New Brunswick and joined NB Power, where he rose to be manager of production. After ten years' active involvement in the ambitious expansion of the province's thermal and hydroelectric plants, John Dean was at last wooed to ADI.
In the past 25 years during which he has served as president and CEO, John Dean has become synonymous with ADI Limited. Founded just over 50 years ago by a group of UNB professors, ADI became under his leadership an employee-owned, multi-discipline firm employing more than 200 highly trained engineers, architects, technologists, technicians, business professionals and office staff. Operating in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, India and Southeast Asia, it captured the title of "Canada's Best Service Company" from World Business magazine and was named by Arthur Andersen Consulting as one of the 50 best managed private companies in Canada.
All this John Dean achieved while contributing significantly to his profession and his community through service on the Association of Professional Engineers of New Brunswick, the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, and the Fredericton United Way.
Never once in all this time has he forgotten his—and the company's—roots. He is a member of the Board of Governors, a member of the Associated Alumni Council and an advisor to the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Administration. In 1995, on the occasion of ADI's golden anniversary, he approached the Faculty of Engineering to offer a major gift for the benefit of engineering education and to reinforce the existing close links between UNB and ADI. The result was the ADI Studio for Interactive Technology, a leading edge distance education facility in Head Hall and one of the most important and most generous local contributions to The Venture Campaign.
Throughout his career, whether living in cold-water flats or in more affluent circumstances, he has been ably supported by his wife Leitha (Turabull) and four children, two of whom have followed in his footsteps to become engineers.
John Dean took a local engineering consulting firm to international prominence and success—a sizeable and lasting contribution not only to Fredericton and New Brunswick but also to the Atlantic Region and Canada. Today, it is our privilege to honour the nationally and internationally known and respected business man and engineer who made this all happen.
Insignissima Praeses, amplissime Cancellari, tola Universitas, praesento vobis, Johannem Reginaldum Dean, ut admittatur, Honoris Causa, adgradum Doctoris in Scientia in Universitate Novi Brunsvici.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
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