��ݮ����Ƶ����

The people who rise above the cut to win a Top 40 Under 40 honour from Calgary-based Avenue Magazine are — simply put — highly motivated initiators of change, always ready to start something new and exciting.

To be one of those influential honourees, you must possess some — if not all — of these traits: drive, innovative mind, agility, speed, persuasiveness and charisma, mixed in with seemingly boundless amounts of ambition. Which is precisely why the ��ݮ����Ƶ���� is thrilled that, of the 42 recipients who will be toasted tonight at the Eau Claire Tower — 18 have links to ��ݮ����Ƶ����, including new Chancellor Jon Cornish.

Always a Top 40 fan, ��ݮ����Ƶ���� President and Vice-Chancellor Ed McCauley is once again inspired by this year’s honour roll.

“Calgary’s top young changemakers, creators and executives include many of our accomplished ��ݮ����Ƶ���� faculty, staff and alumni who are paving the way for the future,” he says. “Diverse individuals come from across the globe to ��ݮ����Ƶ���� so they can start something, discover something, disrupt something or even invent something, and the courage of these talented ��ݮ����Ƶ���� changemakers is worth celebrating.”

From career highlights and guilty pleasures to favourite profs and embarrassing moments on campus — discover more about these impressive honourees with ��ݮ����Ƶ���� connections in the following three-part series.��

In Part One, you’ll meet: Jon Cornish, ��ݮ����Ƶ���� Chancellor; Mark Blackwell, BComm’11; Brendan MacArthur-Stevens, LLB; Katie Smith-Parent, BA’10; Dr. Jiami Guo, PhD; and Iman Bukhari, BA’12.

Jonathan M. Cornish, chancellor, ��ݮ����Ƶ����

• President Emeritus, Calgary Black Chambers; investment advisor, RBC Dominion Securities

For nine seasons, Jon Cornish was a running back with the Calgary Stampeders, winning the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s Top Athlete, before becoming an investment advisor at RBC Dominion Securities. Along the way, Cornish founded a non-profit organization, the Calgary Black Chambers, to help support young BIPOC professionals. As chancellor, Cornish intends to embrace the Calgary Black Chambers’ core values of mentorship, scholarship, fellowship and advocacy. .

Mark Blackwell, BComm’11

• General partner, Builders VC; chair of the $100-million Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund

Here, in a nutshell, is what Mark Blackwell has accomplished since graduating from ��ݮ����Ƶ���� in 2011: In 2014, he moved to Silicon Valley and became COO of GNS3 Technologies, rebranded the company, launched its online community, and then sold it in 2015 to a publicly traded U.S. firm for $32 million. Along the way, he got married, travelled for a year, had a baby boy, returned to Calgary, and began working with an��international venture fund, Builders VC. .

Brendan MacArthur-Stevens

• Sessional instructor of administrative law, Faculty of Law, ��ݮ����Ƶ����; litigation associate, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Lawyer and ��ݮ����Ƶ���� instructor��Brendan MacArthur-Stevens has always been driven by a simple rule: if he sees something wrong in the world, he feels compelled to fix it. His career highlight occurred in 2018 when, on a pro bono basis, he��represented the Centre for Sexuality at the Alberta Court of Appeal in a successful attempt to keep the��province’s protections for gay-straight alliances in place.��As a member of the gay community, he is also a co-founder of the Calgary Trans Legal Clinic. .

Katie Smith-Parent, BA’10 (Communications)

• Business development, Spartan Controls Ltd.; executive director, Young Women in Energy; co-founder and board director, Axis Connects; cabinet member, OWN.CANCER campaign

Not only does Katie Smith-Parent’s portfolio at Spartan Controls Ltd. include business development in support of energy-diversification, but she’s also an extraordinary volunteer. As executive director of the Alberta-wide organization Young Women in Energy (YWE), Smith-Parent is also board director of Axis Connects in Calgary — organizations both dedicated to championing women. .

Dr. Jiami Guo, PhD

• Assistant professor of cell biology and anatomy; New York Stem Cell Foundation: Robertson Neuroscience Investigator

Dr. Jiami Guo, PhD, was first Canadian to receive the��prestigious Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Award��from the��New York Stem Cell Foundation — a program that supports promising early career scientists. Since moving to Calgary four years ago, Guo’s research has attracted more than $3.5 million in grants. She now runs a lab, mentors grad students and postdoc fellows, and teaches developmental neuroscience at the grad level. .

Iman Bukhari, BCS’12

• CEO, Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation

After founding the��non-profit Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation at the age of 19, Iman Bukhari’s volunteer-run organization (powered by millennials and Gen-Z’ers) has worked to improve race relations across Alberta and Canada through education, technology and the arts. Whoever the audience, the connection, Bukhari says, always begins with a “meaningful dialogue . . . one that has no other motive than a passion for the greater good.” .

��