Two champions of Waterloo Engineering to receive honorary degrees

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

William Tatham and Réal (Ray) Tanguay, both strong supporters of engineering education at the University of Waterloo, will receive honorary doctorates during the university's spring convocation ceremonies on June 16. 

Tatham, a Waterloo systems design engineering alumnus, is an accomplished entrepreneur who founded Janna Systems in 1990. The company became a world leader in providing software for financial services and was sold to Siebel Systems in 2000. He then established NexJ Systems Inc., which was incubated by XJ Partners, a venture capital and advisory services company founded by Tatham and his former Janna management team. He made a significant contribution towards the building of the William M. Tatham Centre for Co-operative Education, which was named in his honour.

Tanguay is the first Canadian to become a managing officer of Toyota Motor Corporation. He is currently chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and chief risk management officer for North America. Tanguay was instrumental in Toyota’s decision to build the new greenfield automotive assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario, representing a $1.1 billion dollar investment and 2,000 new jobs. He helped introduce the University of Waterloo's co-op system to Toyota and played a key role in creating the NSERC/Toyota/Maplesoft industrial chair in mathematics-based modelling and design. He has served on the Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and completed a six-year term on the university’s Board of Governors. As well as receiving an honorary degree, Tanguay will address the audience. [news release