Marc Y. Tassé, BCom 1990 & MBA 1997 - TRUDEAU MEDAL RECIPIENT 2019

A generational shift

My Telfer journey started in 1986 as an undergrad. In 1992, when I did my MBA, I was lucky enough to be able to network with people in my region who were well connected. In 1993, when I was working at Deloitte, Telfer put trust in me and gave me the opportunity to become a lecturer. It’s 2019, 33 years later, I’m still there — and I’m very happy to still be there.

I’ve spent my professional life working in forensic accounting, fraud detection, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of negativity that comes out of my day to day. Fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated. My job is to always be at the forefront of global and emerging financial crime and anti-corruption issues and to spread awareness about it — it’s a never-ending process. Sometime, it can be depressing, therefore I celebrate every time I see reason for optimism.

I find optimism in my academic life, especially when I see that the new generation of students actually rejects individual and corporate unethical behaviors. They are clear that they are on the lookout for corporations and organizations that shows good governance, nothing less. For me, this is wonderful because I see the role of the University as helping that change take place.

In an age where allegations of unethical behaviour in the social medias can be as damaging as a conviction, one of the major risks the corporations and organizations are facing is reputational. In my view, what really matters is integrity, ethics, and transparency. Those are the core values that we need in the business world right now.

At Telfer, we promote those values. And I am confident that what I’m sharing my students will be remembered and applied. This, to me, is certainly a major cause for celebration.