The Dottori-Attanasio Centennial Scholars Award in Commerce: celebrating diversity, breaking down barriers

Laura Dottori and Mark Attanasio are both professionals in Toronto’s financial services sector and say they feel fortunate to have solid careers. They also believe in the value of inclusion and diversity in corporate Canada and the power of giving back to help level the playing field so others have opportunities to learn, grow, and start a career.

Laura and Mark believe one of the best ways to create more inclusion is through greater access to post-secondary education for those who are less fortunate. To this end, they’ve created a new award for commerce undergraduates at UBC Sauder. With their son a student at UBC Sauder, and Mark being a UBC alumnus with deep roots on the west coast, the new award was a natural fit.

“Where I grew up in East Vancouver, Toronto’s Bay Street was a world away. It’s still a place where we can do a lot more in terms of inclusion and diversity,” says Attanasio, a venture capital executive. “Starting a career in finance can be restrictive for those who don’t have monetary means and we want to enable students to have an opportunity in this field. We hope this scholarship helps open more doors for students of all backgrounds.”

The Dottori-Attanasio family

 
Laura Dottori, a senior executive with CIBC, shares these views. “We know that no matter where we are in life, at some point we all need help. Investing in students by enabling opportunities to study at a school with great reputation such as UBC, is an investment in our future. The right education can set you up well for a solid career. It’s all about increasing access, changing the conversation, and shifting biases so more people are given the opportunity to succeed.”
 
The Dottori-Attanasio Centennial Scholars Award in Commerce is a $10,000 renewable entrance award available for the 2019/2020 academic winter session. For outstanding domestic students entering the BCom program at UBC Sauder School of Business, recipients must be academically qualified but otherwise not able to attend UBC without financial assistance. Preference will be given to under-represented groups.