Serge Godin receives the International Horatio Alger Award

- Founder and Executive Chairman of CGI to be honoured in Washington, D.C. ceremony -

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Serge Godin, one of Canada's leading business figures, has been selected to receive the International Horatio Alger Award in 2015, the Horatio Alger Association announced today.

The International Horatio Alger Award is presented each year by the Washington, D.C.-based Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc to an individual who has persevered through challenges to become a successful entrepreneur or community leader. Recipients of the Award become lifelong members of the Horatio Alger Association of Canada and its American affiliate and serve as role models for its young scholarship recipients. Mr. Godin will be honoured in Washington, D.C. during the 68^th Annual Horatio Alger Awards Induction Ceremonies in April 2015.

"Serge Godin is an exemplary business leader and we are proud to name him as our 2015 International Horatio Alger Award recipient," said Dominic D'Alessandro, President of the Horatio Alger Association of Canada. "His work in founding and building CGI into a leading global company proves that hard work and perseverance leads to great achievements."

Serge Godin spent the majority of his career at the helm of CGI, now the fifth largest independent information technology and business process services firm in the world. He recognized that there was a significant gap in the technology market when he was 26 years old and seized the opportunity to build CGI from a two-person operation in 1976 to a powerhouse with more than 68,000 employees spanning 40 countries.

"I am honored to receive the Horatio Alger Award. It is a privilege to be part of such an accomplished group, that supports and encourages academic excellence through scholarships to underprivileged students in the United States and Canada," said Mr. Serge Godin. 

Mr. Godin was born in the small village of Shipshaw, in the Saguenay (Province of Quebec), in 1949. He completed studies in computer sciences. After obtaining the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in management, he undertook studies in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the Université Laval in Quebec City.

Mr. Godin is a member of the Order of Canada and the Ordre national du Québec. In 2008, he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. In 2011, he was named an Honorary Associate by the Conference Board du Canada. He is an avid philanthropist who established a family foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, advancing education and improving the health of disadvantaged children and teens.

About the Horatio Alger Association of Canada

The Horatio Alger Association of Canada, the Canadian affiliate of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles. The Association honours the achievements of outstanding individuals in our society who have succeeded in spite of adversity and who encourage young people to pursue their dreams through higher education. The Horatio Alger Association of Canada currently awards scholarships annually to deserving young people in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia with plans to expand nationally in 2015. Members of the Association include Dominic D'Alessandro, David Foster, Wayne Gretzky, Rebecca MacDonald, the late G. Wallace F. McCain, the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Jim Pattison, Isadore Sharp, Prem Watsa, Rick Waugh, and Murray Edwards. For more information, visit www.horatioalger.ca.

SOURCE: Horatio Alger Association of Canada

For further information: Adam Daifallah, HATLEY Strategy Advisors, 514.316.7089, [e-mail]