Engineering Alumnus Tom Jenkins receives The Order of Canada

On December 30th, Tom Jenkins (Bachelor of Engineering & Management Engineering Physics '82), Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of Open Text Corporation received the Order of Canada “for his innovative contributions to the development of the high technology industry…”.

Those in the Canadian tech community know Jenkins for his ambition to make Canada a global powerhouse in digital media. Jenkins is the Chair of the Canadian Digital Media Network. He is also an appointed member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, past appointed member of the Government of Canada’s Competition Policy Review Panel, and past appointed member of the Province of Ontario’s Ontario Commercialization Network Review Committee. Jenkins helped found Communitech, the Waterloo based network of hundreds of companies and organizations, and recently led an expert panel that reviewed the Canadian government’s R&D spending, concluding it was antiquated and unnecessarily complex.

Jenkins was honoured in 2010 with the Faculty of Engineering's L.W. Shemilt Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award for his contributions to the industry.