{"id":4349,"date":"2016-11-25T13:37:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T18:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=4349"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:29:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:29:22","slug":"champion-dan-fortin","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/champion-dan-fortin\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Champion Dan Fortin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Champion Dan Fortin\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Dan Fortin, BEng\/78, LLD\/09, stepped straight out of university and into a job with IBM, launching a high-tech career that saw him take on increasingly challenging management roles in the company, retiring as president of IBM Canada in 2014. Throughout his career he has always carved out time to get involved with philanthropic and not-for-profit causes. Says Fortin: \u201cI find it a privilege to be asked to help. I get a tremendous amount of joy and satisfaction from giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin sits on Carleton\u2019s Board of Governors and uses his considerable skills as a champion for the Fund for Good<\/a>. His goal is a lofty one \u2014 work with his fellow alumni to raise $1 million to fund students looking to get involved in experiential learning opportunities. \u201cThis campaign is so exciting because it is so diverse,\u201d says Fortin, who envisions students from all faculties having the opportunity to undertake in-depth research studies, internships, and overseas learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dan
Dan Fortin, BEng\/78, LLD\/09<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carleton U. supporter Dan Fortin gives his take on what makes his alma mater so awesome \u2014 and plays a quick game of Would You Rather<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alma Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a teen, my favourite books\u2026 <\/strong>were written by Wilbur Smith. I\u2019ve actually been reading his books for more than 40 years. He\u2019s a historical novelist from Africa. His work is fictional, but he has created a couple of different families and his novels follow their lives through the 18th century. What was it like to go on an elephant-hunting trip way back then? What was it like in the diamond mines? I\u2019d wait for his books to come out and set them aside for when I had vacation time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I could start all over again at Carleton, I would\u2026<\/strong> study engineering just like I did the first time around. It was perfect for me. The unique thing about the engineering program when I was there was that it was a cross-disciplinary until my final year. We were all in together. There was such a richness in doing it this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education is so important because\u2026 <\/strong>you learn to learn. And once you\u2019ve got that mastered, you can accomplish so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I give back because\u2026<\/strong> Carleton University is a unique institution. It offers many interdisciplinary degrees, which I think is so important. The university leads the way in this, and I\u2019m extremely proud of what it\u2019s doing. The world today is interdisciplinary and collaborative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would You Rather?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that engineers are renowned for having adventurous spirits, we challenge you, Dan Fortin, to a series of \u201cwould you rather\u201d questions in honour of Carleton University\u2019s 75th birthday in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”4368″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you rather\u2026 go back in time to a Panda Game from your undergrad years or enjoy a front-row seat at the 2017 game?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin: I\u2019d love to go back to 1978. I can\u2019t even begin to describe what the game was like in the 70s, and that will never be repeated, so it would be fun to relive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you rather\u2026 live for a year in the underground tunnels or in a tent on the shores of the Canal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin: I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d want to live in the tunnels for a whole year \u2014 they\u2019re a bit humid and dark \u2014 but they are unique. To have the insight to build the tunnels was great. As a student, I thought it was amazing that I didn\u2019t have to trudge into class with boots and a coat \u2014 you just popped in and there you were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you rather\u2026 spend an afternoon with infamous Carleton alumnus Conrad Black or famous alumnus Dan Aykroyd? Michael Cowpland or Karim Rashid?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin: Definitely Dan Aykroyd. Imagine what his time at university was like! I\u2019d love to know what impact university life had on him. For the second duo, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to meet Mr. Cowpland so I\u2019ll go with Karim Rashid. He\u2019s a unique individual who thinks outside the box and is very creative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you rather\u2026 design a new building to celebrate Carleton\u2019s 75th or a state-of-the-art laboratory?<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin: <\/strong>I\u2019d have to go with the lab. Perhaps not a lab in the classic sense, but it would be fun to think up more of a design lab with collaborative spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you rather\u2026 party like it\u2019s 1978 or 2017?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortin: In 1978 I partied lots, but that was then and this is now. I\u2019m really looking forward to Carleton\u2019s celebrations of 2017. I haven\u2019t yet lived 2017, so I can\u2019t wait for that.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dan Fortin, BEng\/78, LLD\/09, stepped straight out of university and into a job with IBM, launching a high-tech career that saw him take on increasingly challenging management roles in the company, retiring as president of IBM Canada in 2014. Throughout his career he has always carved out time to get involved with philanthropic and not-for-profit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[17,28],"cu_story_tag":[1924],"class_list":["post-4349","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-alumni","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_tag-advancement"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97523,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4349\/revisions\/97523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=4349"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=4349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}