$100,000 Donation to Building a Legacy Campaign from Atlantic Turbines
The University of Prince Edward Island's Building a Legacy Campaign is $100,000 closer to its final goal of $50 million, thanks to a gift from Atlantic Turbines of Summerside. Atlantic Turbines is a division of Vector Aerospace, an internationally respected aviation repair and overhaul company with operations in Canada, the US, and the UK.
The $100,000 donation will be allocated to the new School of Business Administration building, which is under construction on the UPEI campus and scheduled to open by early 2008. John MacDougall and Brian Thompson, both School of Business alumni (BBA'83) who now hold senior management positions with Vector Aerospace, presented the gift. John MacDougall is President of ACROHELIPRO Global Services Inc. and Brian Thompson is President of Atlantic Turbines International Inc.
“As our company competes daily against strong competitors around the world, we increasingly need a strong link to an excellent institution like UPEI,” says Brian Thompson. “The School of Business's emphasis on creating strong partnerships with private sector companies is an excellent approach. Our contribution to the Building a Legacy Campaign makes sense for the community and for our company.”
“It's with great pleasure we give back to an institution that has provided so much to me personally, and so much toward making PEI such a great province,” says John MacDougall. “If this contribution to better learning facilities at UPEI helps to influence the decision of just one person to remain on PEI for their education and career pursuits, it's a success.”
In thanking Atlantic Turbines for their generous gift, Dean of Business Roberta MacDonald noted that support from Island-based businesses is critical to the success of the new School of Business and the University of Prince Edward Island.
"I am extremely grateful for this gift to our University and to our new School of Business in particular," she said. "The Building a Legacy Campaign has an ambitious $50 million target, but thanks to supportive companies such as Atlantic Turbines, whose managers recognize that UPEI plays a critical role in the economic development of PEI, we have reached almost 80 per cent of that goal."
The UPEI Building a Legacy Campaign has just entered its final phase and signs have been erected at both entrances of the University to track its progress. The current total stands at just over $38 million. The University has an ambitious strategy in place to raise the remaining $12 million by the end of 2008. More information is available at upei.ca/legacy.
