Loran’s
Impact

For over 35 years, Loran has identified, equipped, and empowered generations of values-driven individuals, developing a diverse ecosystem of Canadian leaders who have accepted the challenge of building a better world. In doing so, Loran has provided more than $70 million in undergraduate awards to 3,400+ promising high school and Cegep students, including 798 past and present Loran Scholars.

Together, alumni push boundaries across an array of fields, such as technology, the arts, law, medicine, science, education, and finance. Loran Scholars have gone on to hold such positions as: President, Doctors of the World; Assistant Professor, Critical Studies of Race & Indigeneity at the University of Toronto; Chief of Staff, Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency with the Government of Canada; and Founder & CEO of FundThrough. Moreover, 8 Loran Scholars have gone on to clerk for the Supreme Court and 25 have been selected as Rhodes Scholars.

Though their work spans a multitude of sectors and disciplines, Loran alumni share and continue to be guided by Loran’s core values of character, service, and leadership. Wherever their paths lead them, Loran Scholars share a lifelong commitment to leaving things better than they found them.

Franca Gucciardi (’90) is COO at CIFAR, an organization that brings together the world’s best scholars and scientists to address high-risk, important, and complex questions. Formerly CEO of the McCall MacBain Foundation, Franca led this humanitarian organization focused on education and scholarships, climate change and the environment, and youth mental health and well-being. In 2019, under her leadership, the Foundation gave the single-largest gift in philanthropic history ($200M) to establish the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill, which she also led. Prior to this role, Franca served as CEO of the Loran Scholars Foundation for 13 years and was Founding Director of Canada’s Millennium Excellence Awards. A member of the inaugural cohort of Loran Scholars, she earned a BA from the University of Waterloo and an MA in International Relations from Carleton University. Franca is a Board Director of Enactus, and sits on the Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership Advisory at Western University and the Arrell Food Institute Advisory at the University of Guelph. She is a Fellow of the International Women’s Forum and holds a C.Dir, Governance from The Directors College.

Lucas Skoczkowski (’92) is Managing Partner at Red Lane Group, an entrepreneur-led company that acquires and scales enterprise software and IT services business. The former CEO of Redknee, a mobile software company that he founded at 26 years old, Lucas built a global organization of over 2000 employees while leading the development of the company’s product portfolio. Prior to establishing Redknee, Lucas gained a breadth of experience in sales, operations, business, and product development with companies including Nortel Networks (USA, UK, Canada) and Clearnet Communications Inc. He holds a BSc from the University of Waterloo, has attended the Harvard Business School’s YPO Program in Leadership since 2011, and was honoured with both the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and a Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award.

Sarah Michael (’93) is an international development expert specializing in sustainable development, peace and tolerance building, social inclusion, and post-conflict recovery. Currently serving as Country Manager for Azerbaijan with The World Bank, Sarah leads innovative work with a focus on the Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Africa regions. Previously serving as manager of The World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict & Violence group, and a regional lead for sustainable development based in Tbilisi, Georgia, Sarah has a long history of building bridges between stakeholders including the highest levels of government, private sector, international organizations, local communities, and civil society. She earned her MPhil and PhD degrees from Cambridge University and studied Biology at Queen’s University.

Andrew Kushnir (’98) is a playwright, director, actor and community arts worker based in Toronto. Artistic Director of Project: Humanity, a socially-engaged theatre company, and a leading developer of Verbatim Theatre, his plays include The Middle Place, Wormwood, The Gay Heritage Project (with Paul Dunn and Damien Atkins), Towards Youth: A Play On Radical Hope, Small Axe, Freedom Singer (with Khari Wendell McClelland) and The Division. A four-time Dora Award nominee and the inaugural recipient of the Shevchenko Foundation REACH residency prize, Andrew is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting program. He has held artistic roles at Crow’s Theatre, Stratford Festival of Canada, and Tarragon Theatre. In 2022, Andrew founded the We Support LGBTQ Ukraine Fund to assist NGOs with meeting the needs of LGBTQ+ Ukrainians trapped or internally displaced by war.

Based in Sackville, NB, Amy-Lee Kouwenberg (’01) has dedicated her career to conservation and science. As Associate Atlantic Director at Birds Canada, Amy-Lee coordinates the High Elevation Landbird Program, monitoring birds in remote forests of northern New Brunswick and the Cape Breton Highlands, and works with forestry officials to protect habitat in the industrial forest. She also coordinates the Atlantic Nocturnal Owl Survey, a citizen scientist-based effort to census owls in the Atlantic provinces. Published for her studies on seabirds, Amy-Lee studied Agriculture at the University of Guelph before earning her MSc and PhD in Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

CEO and Co-Founder of Orpyx Medical Technologies, Breanne Everett (’02) is a former trainee in plastic and reconstructive surgery with the University of Calgary. Orpyx develops novel sensory insoles with remote patient monitoring, designed to empower people living with diabetes to prevent wounds and amputation. Breanne was named one of Avenue Magazine’s ’Top 40 Under 40,’ one of the ’Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada,’ and the University of Calgary’s ’Graduate of the Last Decade’ in 2014. She is a member of the Canadian Medical Association’s Joule Innovation Council, the Governor General Innovation Award Selections Committee, and the Rideau Hall Innovation Advisory Council. In 2016, Breanne was awarded the Governor General’s Innovation Award, and in 2023, she became the first recipient of the Alberta Business Hall of Fame’s Young Innovator Award, which recognizes the achievements of business leaders under 40.

Aneil Jaswal (’07) serves as Director of Portfolio Strategy for the Canada Infrastructure Bank, where he is supporting $35 billion in infrastructure investment to help reduce GHG emissions, connect communities, increase economic growth, and close the Indigenous infrastructure gap. Previously, Aneil acted as Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, contributing to Canada’s national health and economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aneil completed his BSc in Global Resource Systems at The University of British Columbia, as well as his MSc and DPhil in Public Health at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. After his studies, Aneil worked for McKinsey & Company before joining the Government of Canada as a Policy Advisor with the Privy Council Office.

Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly (’11) is a Boulton Junior Fellow and Incoming Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law. He recently defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science at the University of Toronto as a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar. His research focuses on access to justice and explores the role of public participation in our justice system. He clerked for the Honourable Clément Gascon at the Supreme Court of Canada and practiced as a lawyer in civil, appellate, and constitutional litigation in Montreal. In parallel to his research, Jérémy remains actively involved in access to justice initiatives, including as a pro bono lawyer in constitutional cases and as a volunteer for Interligne’s LGBTQ+ legal information clinic in Montreal.