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Paul Davenport is the ninth President of The University of Western Ontario. He began a five-year term as Western's leader on July 1, 1994 and has been renewed for a third term to 2009. Dr. Davenport is a graduate of Stanford University (BA, With Great Distinction, Honors in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa), and the University of Toronto (MA, PhD). He taught economics at McGill University from 1973 to 1989 and also served as Vice-Principal for Planning and Computer Services (1986-1989). From 1989 to 1994 he served as President of the University of Alberta. He holds Honorary Degrees from the University of Toronto (2000), the International University of Moscow (2002), and the University of Alberta (1994). In 2001, Dr. Davenport was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor by the Government of France, and in 2002 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Dr. Davenport has a national reputation for working in a collegial manner to set academic priorities and to make selective budgetary decisions in support of excellence. He is a strong public advocate of the central role of higher education and fundamental research in the knowledge economy, and the vital importance of high quality undergraduate and graduate education. Under his leadership Western seeks to offer the best student experience among the leading research-intensive universities of Canada.

Dr. Davenport's research in economics has focused on productivity growth, fiscal federalism, and the knowledge-based economy. He has published widely in these fields in academic journals and books, and his research has been supported by grants from federal and provincial granting councils. He has supervised over 20 Masters and PhD theses and has taught honors and graduate courses in macroeconomics and on the Canadian and Quebec economies. Since 1973, he has presented more than 100 lectures and papers at academic meetings, conferences, and colloquia. In 1999, Dr. Davenport spent a three-month research leave at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris studying the role of universities in the knowledge economy.

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Tom Jenkins is the Executive Chairman of Open Text, the market leader in providing Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions that bring together people, processes and information in global organizations. Throughout its history, Open Text has matched its tradition of innovation with a track record of financial strength and growth. Today, the company supports more than 17 million seats across 13,000 deployments in 31 countries and 12 languages worldwide. Open Text’s flagship product, Livelink® seamlessly combines collaboration with content management, helping organizations transform information into knowledge to provide the foundation for innovation, compliance and accelerated growth

Recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world of knowledge management by KMWorld for five years in a row, Mr. Jenkins has been involved with the Internet since it emerged as a major public network in the early 1990s. As CEO of Open Text Corporation, he was instrumental in the creation of one of the first internet search engines that was used by Netscape®, Yahoo!® and IBM®.   Mr. Jenkins went on to direct the development of the first Internet-based Document Management system as well the earliest versions of internet based Workflow, Portals and Online Meeting software.  All of these component technologies are early forerunners of current ECM technology.

Mr. Jenkins has served in a variety of technical and managerial positions during his career including Design Engineer, Sales Manager, General Manager, Chief Operating Officer, President, CEO and Chairman.  These positions have always been with technology intensive growth companies specializing in computer hardware and software products internationally.

The Open Text Corporation has been Tom Jenkins’s passion taking the company from its original roots of indexing the Oxford English Dictionary to a worldwide organization with over 2,000 employees and over $400 million dollars in revenues.

Tom is active in developing the high tech sector in Canada and abroad and is a much called upon speaker on high tech and business trends. He is a passionate and inspirational communicator who has seen it all in the Canadian and international mosaic of high tech companies.

Tom Jenkins received an MBA in Technology Management from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Prior to this achievement he received an M.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and  a B.Eng. & Mgt. in Technology and Commerce from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

He is married, has three children and makes his home in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

The Partners

• The University of Waterloo
• The University of Western Ontario
• The University of Windsor