London Inc. Weekly 08 • 31 • 2018
Mary Pierce appointed Fanshawe College Faculty of Business dean
FANSHAWE COLLEGE HAS announced the appointment of Mary Pierce as the dean of the Faculty of Business, effective August 27, 2018.
Pierce has worked at Fanshawe since 2000 in progressively senior roles, including chair of the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business for the past 11 years. Previously, she held extensive senior leadership and management positions with organizations such as Procter and Gamble, SC Johnson Wax, the Blackburn Group and Citigroup International.
Gary Lima, Fanshawe’s senior vice president academic said, “Mary is an exceptional leader and an ideal candidate to lead the Faculty of Business into the future. Ms. Pierce commands tremendous respect, both internally here at Fanshawe, and across the entire Province where she is known as a collaborator and champion of post-secondary education.”
Under Pierce’s leadership, the Kinlin School of Business launched 18 new programs, including four bachelor of commerce degrees, and developed over 300 pathway agreements and 20 international exchange partnerships. She was the recipient of the President’s Distinguished Achievement Award as Fanshawe College’s Leader of the Year in 2015 and the National Bronze winner of the Colleges and Institutes Canada Leadership Excellence award in 2016.
“Fanshawe is an integral part of the community. It is an exciting time to be leading the Faculty of Business as we expand in IT and the Lawrence Kinlin School and open the new downtown campus,” said Pierce. 
City paves way for South Street lands development
CITY COUNCIL HAS given the green light to a zoning change that paves the way for the first major step to transform the South Street lands that make up one of London’s most coveted redevelopment sites, in the wider area known as South of Horton or SoHo.
The 620-unit apartment project, proposed by Toronto-based Medallion Corporation, calls for two towers—one 19 storeys tall, the other 23—grouped together with two other lower podiums, one eight storeys, the other nine. Medallion has previously constructed apartment towers in Old East Village and on Kipps Lane.
The project has been opposed by some neighbourhood residents who feel the proposed towers are too high and have concerns about the shadows the towers would cast over some homes and increased traffic the project would cause.
The plans include a public promenade that will integrate the building with the Thames River, which runs along the south edge of the property, and will also incorporate the Colborne Building, a heritage structure built in 1899 and a survivor from the site’s former use as a hospital. There are no specifics yet on how the Colborne Building will be used but commercial space on the lower floor and more residences on the upper floor are possible.
Camille Ross takes over weekday anchor duties at CTV London
CTV LONDON WEEKEND anchor, Camille Ross, has been named as the new weekday anchor for CTV London News at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Current CTV London anchor Tara Overholt is relocating to Calgary to pursue other interests.
Ross’ first day on the job will be September 10.
“Camille is a skilled broadcaster who connects with our strong community of viewers, and I’m proud to announce her and Julie as the new co-anchor team for London’s most-watched newscasts,” said Steve Young, director of news and information programming, CTV London. “We wish Tara all the best in her move to Calgary, and send our most sincere thanks for her 15 outstanding years with CTV London.”
Prior to joining CTV London, Ross spent several years reporting for CTV Montreal, covering a wide variety of stories.
Three firms signed to RH Accelerator program
THE RH ACCELERATOR has announced it has signed on its first three program-participating firms: Factory Bucket, Curling Zone and Visitor Queue.
Located in the Roundhouse, the RH Accelerator, founded by Joe Dales, Brian Foster and David Billson, seeks to aid growth-stage companies by facilitating access to support, mentorship and investment capital.
Factory Bucket, the first firm to raise investment capital through the program, has built new technology that replaces antiquated legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems within the manufacturing sector. It employs 14 people, has international sales and is seeking to fuel its growth and global expansion efforts.
“Factory Bucket is an amazing opportunity for London and the perfect fit for our accelerator program,” said RH Accelerator CEO, David Billson. “They have the right mix of a market opportunity, management expertise and growth potential that we look for in our firms. The accelerator will help bolster their business plan, marketing strategy and sales tactics to be able to make best use of future investment capital.”
“The founders of RHA are the biggest attraction to us because all three have successfully built software/technology companies,” explained David Uram, Factory Bucket’s CEO. “They will foster our company and help accelerate our growth. We look forward to growing with them.”
CurlingZone, a one-person operation, specializes in analytics and data for curling teams and organizations; Visitor Queue is a four-person, lead-generation software firm that identifies website visitors for businesses
The RH Accelerator is supported by several groups in the London region, including Start.ca, LEDC, rTraction, PwC, BBO and Deloitte, as well as 30-plus mentors who volunteer their time.
New Fanshawe downtown campus opens its doors
FANSHAWE COLLEGE’S NEW $66-million downtown campus will begin welcoming students next week—on time and on budget.
Located in the former Kingsmills department store at 130 Dundas Street, the building features natural light, large open spaces and state-of-the-art teaching kitchens. The building spans six floors and 114,000 square feet and will house Fanshawe’s tourism, hospitality and culinary arts school and its information technology school.
The new building, combined with the existing downtown campus across the street, will bring 2,000 to 2,500 students into the core along with almost 240 faculty and staff.
In addition to 25 kitchen and computer labs, the culinary program will be showcased in the Chef’s Table, a ground-floor restaurant that will help provide a hands-on training ground for culinary students. Visitors entering the building off of Dundas Street are greeted by a seven-metre high “living wall” of some 200 different plant varieties, and a fourth-floor terrace looks north over the city.
Although little remains of the original Kingsmills store, a few accents were retained to reflect its history: A section of the vacuum tube system, which staff once used to transport paper and money from floor to floor, has been mounted behind display glass; the original safe has a place on the lower floor; and the store’s old-fashioned, manual elevator now serves as a change room for a new retail shop.