Rogers partners with DeGroote on digital transformation EMBA scholarship

Rogers Media is partnering with the DeGroote School of Business on a new scholarship named for the company’s longtime president and CEO.

The Ted Rogers Scholarship in Digital Transformation will enable Rogers to nominate one employee each year to complete the School’s Executive MBA in Digital Transformation (EMBA). Rogers will fund one employee in each cohort of the program through 2021.

Launched in 2016, the EMBA is a unique, 14-month program built around four residential modules in Ontario and Silicon Valley in California. EMBA students from around the world learn from faculty  in the classroom and from industry experts on site.

The program is aimed at professionals who are well-established players in their respective fields. The inaugural cohort, which graduated in the fall of 2017, averaged 42 years of age and 12 years of work experience.

The aim of the EMBA is to prepare graduates to make data-driven decisions, lead complex and diverse teams in digital environments and recruit world-class talent to their organizations.

“It’s marvelous to have Rogers, one of the leading companies in the telecommunications space, as a partner on our EMBA,” says Len Waverman, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business.

“To have Rogers providing a scholarship for someone at their firm to come study at DeGroote shows that an industry leader not only has confidence in us, but can learn from us.”

Rogers considers the scholarship an investment in the growth and development of its team, and crucial to long-term success, says Jim Reid, chief human resource officer.

“We are thrilled to partner with DeGroote’s EMBA in Digital Transformation, and to give our team members the opportunity to have a unique, digitally focused learning experience that will arm them with the skills and knowledge to help them become digital leaders of tomorrow,” Reid says.

As part of the agreement, Rogers will have an opportunity to provide a digital transformation-focused project for students to work on during their capstone project course. The company will also nominate a senior executive to be considered for the EMBA Business Advisory Committee.

Rogers’ commitment to the EMBA program and DeGroote is already strong.

Even before establishing the scholarship, the company had selected an employee to participate in the program each year.

Andrea Gagliardi, one of those employees, says she benefited immensely from studying at DeGroote.

“DeGroote’s EMBA program is fantastic, and I’d highly recommend it,” says Gagliardi, who was recently named vice-president of residential and enterprise (digital) at Rogers.

“We are in the midst of a digital transformation, and it was so helpful that core curriculum elements were made relevant to the work we are doing today.

“It was also important for me to immerse myself in the EMBA program to allow for effective group work and meaningful networking,” she continues. “The EMBA provided me with the right balance of on-premise intensity and self-pacing. The content was incredibly transferable to my day-to-day work.”

In 2017, Rogers selected Rachel Di Salle enter the EMBA program.

“The journey has been pretty incredible so far,” says Di Salle, senior manager of content governance at Rogers. “A highlight would certainly be getting to come to California, to be in Palo Alto, where so much of this innovation and intelligence happens.

“You go to work every day and try to be as open-minded as possible,” Di Salle says.

“But I think a program like this really elevates that. It just gives you a whole other sense of context when you’re looking at your work and the company you work for, and how that fits in the industry.”

For more information about the DeGroote School of Business’ Executive MBA in Digital Transformation, download the brochure or sign up for an information session.