Zita Cobb will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 200 p.m. ceremony on Saturday, November 9, “in recognition of her exceptional career as an entrepreneur and for her outstanding commitment to philanthropy.”
Zita Cobb grew up in Joe Batt’s Arm, a community of 700 people located on Fogo Island, off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. She went on to a financial career initially in the oil and gas industry. She later moved into high-technology and was the chief financial officer of JDS Fitel, and senior vice president of strategy for NASDAQ-traded, fiber optics innovator JOS Uniphase.
Ms. Cobb retired in 2001 to sail and to focus on her philanthropic work. She is keenly interested in the well-being of rural communities and holding on to ways of knowing. She believes in the transformational power
of the arts, business innovation and social entrepreneurship as tools for community well-being.
She is the visionary and chief agitator behind the Shorefast Foundation. Shorefast leads a number of innovative projects aimed at the cultural and economic resiliency for Fogo Island and Change Islands. The recently launched Fogo Island Inn is a Shorefast initiative. She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Il Diamond Jubilee Medal.