2010 Fredericton Special Convocation (September)

MacGibbon, Alan

Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)

Orator: Mason, Gordon

Citation:

SPECIAL CONVOCATION, SEPTEMBER, 2010
ALAN MACGIBBON
to be Doctor of Letters

A nationally-recognized accounting expert, a corporate and community leader, and the managing partner and chief executive of Deloitte & Touche LLP, Alan MacGibbon has brought distinction to his alma mater, the University of New Brunswick.

A native of Corner Brook, Nfld., Mr. MacGibbon graduated from UNB with a degree in business administration in 1978. Joining Touche Ross in Saint John, he developed extensive auditing experience in oil refining, shipbuilding, transportation, and manufacturing before transferring to the firm’s Halifax office in 1984. Here, Touche Ross’s strong public sector practice, which included auditing the province of Nova Scotia, provided unique experience, and in 1989 Alan MacGibbon became an audit partner one year before the Touche Ross/Deloitte Haskins & Sells merger. Following that merger, he was drawn into the consulting side of the practice — in 1992 bringing his interprovincial range of contacts and astute understanding of the Atlantic provinces to his leadership of the Atlantic side of Deloitte & Touche Management Consultants.

In 1996, the firm invited Alan MacGibbon to lead the newly-formed Management Solutions practice designed to identify the consulting needs of national domestic clients. In 2000, he was made group managing partner, growth and markets, enabling him to bring greater focus and clarification to Canadian marketplace initiatives and the firm’s strategy for growth. He was appointed group managing partner for the greater Toronto area in 2003, and was elected managing partner and chief executive of Deloitte & Touche Canada in 2004. As such, he chairs the Canadian firm’s executive, is a member of the Canadian firm’s board of directors, a member of the executive and board of directors of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and oversees annual revenues of over a billion dollars. He is responsible for managing all aspects of Deloitte & Touche Canada’s 58 offices, 7,800 employees, and 560 partners.

It is a matter of pride for Alan MacGibbon and Deloitte that the 150-year old firm and its employees are actively engaged in Canadian professional and community life, including being designated the Best Employer of New Canadians, being categorized as a Progressive Employer, and, most recently, in June 2010, winning the Maurice-Pollock Award in Quebec for promoting ethno-cultural diversity in the workplace.

On a personal level, Alan MacGibbon has been deeply committed to supporting community organizations such as the United Way, the Toronto Rehab Foundation, and Volunteer Canada. On a professional level, he has served as vice-chair of the Conference Board of Canada, vice-chair of Canada’s CEO of the Year Advisory Board, and a director of The Learning Partnership.

He has supported high-growth leaders and entrepreneurs at the G. Wallace F. McCain Institute for Business Leadership at UNB, both financially and with his personal time. In 2006, he was designated a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants — the highest honour awarded to Ontario Chartered Accountants. In the words of one of his nominators, Alan MacGibbon is a “global strategist and a corporate visionary,” and it is with pride that UNB honours him.

Citation written by Dr. Gwendolyn Davies

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4

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