[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Mossadiq-Umedaly_lowres.jpg” caption=”Mossadiq Umedaly”]The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business will honour Mossadiq Umedaly with the 2003 Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award tonight (April 16) at a gala dinner at the Ontario Club in Toronto.

Mossadiq, B.Com. '74, MBA '77, is executive chairman of Xantrex Technology Inc. Xantrex is headquartered in Burnaby, B.C. and produces sophisticated devices to convert power from DC to AC, and vice-versa.

“I am proud and honoured to receive the 2003 Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. Here, I learned practical skills as well as innovative and creative ways to apply them. I have relied on these skills throughout my career,” says Mossadiq.

Since joining Xantrex in 1999, Mossadiq has repositioned and transformed the company from a small niche player to a world leader in advanced power electronics. His focused business strategy, targeted at high growth markets, has helped Xantrex grow its revenues from $15 million in 1998, to more than US$110 million in 2001.

From 1990 to 1998, Mossadiq was vice-president and chief financial officer of Ballard Power Systems, the world's leading fuel cell company. At Ballard, he played an instrumental role in securing key strategic partnerships and in developing, financing and positioning the company for growth. During this period, the value of the company increased from US$10 million to US$6 billion. Not so coincidentally, Xantrex's power conversion units are enabling devices for fuel cells.

Mossadiq has also held senior positions in the Aga Khan Development Network, playing a key role in planning, developing and operating a US$300 million medical university and teaching hospital in Karachi as the director of Finance, Planning & Information Systems. He started his career in 1975 with Price Waterhouse and spent five years in their Toronto and Rome offices.

Vishwanath Baba, dean of the DeGroote School of Business said, “Mossadiq is a fine example of the high quality students that we endeavour to create. At the DeGroote School of Business, we strive to inculcate in all our students a penchant for innovation, the skills to manage that innovation, and the mindset to entrench it in a context of leadership. It is evident that Mossadiq has acquired and cultivated these attributes throughout his career, and has used these skills to blaze new trails in a highly innovative field of technology.”

Mossadiq's career began when he arrived in Canada from Uganda in 1970. He obtained both an undergraduate Commerce degree and an MBA from McMaster University, and went on to become a chartered accountant. He serves on the DeGroote Business Advisory Council, and is also an advisor and contributor to several philanthropic projects in Canada and developing countries in Africa and Asia.