Carleton University Board Chair, Gisèle Samson-Verreault, announced today the appointment of entrepreneur Charles Chi as the university’s 11th Chancellor. He will officially take over his duties at the end of November.

“Carleton’s Board of Governors is honoured that Mr. Chi has accepted our invitation to serve as Chancellor,” says Ms. Samson-Verrault. “His presence will inspire our students, faculty and staff in a remarkable way. We will all greatly benefit from his wisdom, insight and entrepreneurial acumen.’’

President Roseann O’Reilly Runte says that Mr. Chi, who graduated from Carleton with a Bachelor of Systems Engineering in 1988, will “inspire students to pursue their dreams through his example of hard work, dedication and strategic thinking. He epitomizes the global Canadian, at home around the world.”

Dr. Runte paid tribute to Carleton’s current Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray, the longest continuously-serving Member of Parliament in Canadian history. He was awarded by the Governor General in 2002 the title of “Right Honourable” in recognition of his distinguished and record-setting contribution to Canadian political life. Mr. Gray served as a Minister under three prime ministers. He also served as Opposition House Leader and Leader of the Official Opposition.

“I cannot think of a wiser, more gracious person than the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray,’’ said Dr. Runte.  “He has dedicated his precious time to Carleton University, presiding over many convocations, guiding us through meetings with complex issues, listening to students, caring about the university community and making us all feel part of his family. He is a fine Canadian and we are proud he is our Chancellor.”

Mr. Chi, 45, is an entrepreneur, innovator and venture investor. He is currently the Executive Chairman at Lytro, an early-stage company located in Mountain View, CA, which is developing a suite of products based on technology that may revolutionize photography offerings in the $30-billion consumer imaging market. .

He brings to Carleton a diverse background in marketing, sales, engineering and executive leadership. He is the former vice-president of marketing at Ciena, co-founder at Lightera Networks, marketing group manager at Cisco and customer systems engineer at StrataCom.

Mr. Chi said Carleton was a valuable starting point for him in striving to live out his full potential and he would like to help others do the same. In recent years, he has given talks to Carleton students to help inspire them about dynamic ways of applying their educations.

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For more information:
Caitlin Kealey
Media Relations
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 8718

Caitlin_Kealey@carleton.ca

Monday, August 29, 2011 in
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