Seneca College RED 2019 - 40

1,436

GIVING
BACK

Number of donors who
generously supported
Seneca in 2018/19

Changing the course
of everything

Mike Shaver
believes giving
has far-reaching
effects

RED

2019

Shaver's contributions to
Seneca have been designed to
give more women the opportunity to become leaders in technology, like his mother. The
Mike Shaver Award, established
in 2014, supports women in the
School of Information & Communication Technology.
And recently, Shaver agreed
to a 10-year philanthropic
commitment, which will grow
his award and establish the
Jean and Ross Shaver Memorial
Award. It will honour his grandparents and provide financial
aid for Early Childhood Education students. Shaver's transformative gift has also created the
Student Experience Fund for
HELIX, helping to send fledgling entrepreneurs to the prestigious European Innovation
Academy. At the heart of his
philanthropy is a commitment

to diversity and helping students,
as he puts it, "change the course
of everything."
"Financial support for
students is practical, given the
economic realities of living in
Toronto," Shaver says. "It also
lets them know they've been
seen and that their work matters."

Pictured above: Mike Shaver.

PHOTO: JOANNE RATAJCZAK

awarded an honorary degree
MIKE SHAVER'S CAREER has been
and become a donor.
defined by the bravery to take
"I felt like Seneca adopted
a different path. When Shaver
me," Shaver says. "And their
graduated from high school, all
focus on equipping people to do,
his friends went to university.
not just know, is something that
He didn't. College either.
Instead, he worked, sharing his I feel is very valuable."
It could be said that Shaver's
brilliance as a software developer and engineer with compa- career trajectory is a case of the
apple not falling far from the
nies like Netscape, Mozilla and
tree: His mother built telecomeventually Facebook. Today,
munications software for Mitel.
Shaver is the Chief Technology
When he was 12, his mom taught
Officer for integrate.ai, a new
AI-powered enterprise data and him an important lesson, when
discussing how impressed she
software platform developer.
was with her female colleagues.
During Shaver's time with
"I said to my mother, 'You
Mozilla, he worked with Senetell stories about all these amazca's School of Information &
Communications Technology to ing women. There must be
women who aren't amazing,'"
incorporate open source techShaver says. "My mother said,
nology into the curriculum,
establishing Seneca as a thought 'No. There can't be. You don't
get to be a mediocre woman.
leader in the field. This relationship led Shaver to join Sen- You have to be incredible, or
you just don't get the chance.'"
eca's Board of Governors, be

http://www.integrate.ai

Seneca College RED 2019

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