If
he had the opportunity all over again, Anil Rastogi would not hesitate
to choose Canada as his new homeland. Born in Delhi, India, 1950, the son
of a middle-class Hindu business man, Anil, age 17, left his birthplace,
travelling to Oslo, Norway, 1967, to work as an off-set printer. Quickly
learning Norwegian, Anil began working for IBM as a programmer/analyst.
A visionary, Anil realized that a university education was a necessary
requisition for advancement in business management. Taking a year's leave
of absence from IBM, Anil acquired a Diploma in an International Management
Programme in Oslo. With eyes wide open, but confident to overcome the worst,
he applied for and was admitted into the MBA program at the University
of Western Ontario, 1975, even though he did not have a formal undergraduate
degree. When he graduated, 1978, he won the Gold Medal among a class of
240. He has never looked back. The young man who immigrated to Canada from
India via Norway is now Vice President and Chief Information Officer, McCain
Foods Inc., responsible, with a staff of 370 in 10 countries, for IT function
throughout the company. Formerly V.P., Systems and Technology, AT&T;
Chief Information Officer, William M. Mercer Limited; Senior Vice President,
Wellington Insurance; Vice President, Morgan Financial Corporation, among
others, Anil and his wife Indu, also from Delhi, are proud parents of two
sons, Shetil and Shelly, both of whom are following in the foot steps of
their father in business management. [Photo, courtesy Anil Rastogi]
Dr.
Vangi S. Ramachandran, Distinguished Researcher/Researcher Emeritus, National
Research Council of Canada (NRC), is an acknowledged world leader in the
fields of cement science and technology, having made many scientific and
technological break throughs in Concrete Science over a 45-year career.
Born, 1929, Bangalore, India, upon completing his Ph.D., University of
Calcutta, Dr. Ramachandran gained status as a Senior Research Officer at
the Indian Central Building Research Institute before taking a post-doctoral
fellowship, 1962-65, at NRC. Returning to work in India, Dr. Ramachandran
was invited, 1967, to return to the NRC where an appropriate world-class
Construction Materials Research Laboratory would be available for him to
undertake research of international importance. After accepting this invitation,
in 1968, he and his wife, Vasundhara, and their two children, immigrated
to Ottawa where he continued his career as a renowned world scientist.
Dr. Ramachandran has more than 200 publications, including 10 books, some
of which have been translated into Russian and Chinese. He also writes
short stories and articles on music and poetry. He has won many international
prizes and has travelled world wide delivering key presentations to many
scientific organizations. He appears in many international biographical
works. His biography appears in the 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the
20th Century, published by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge,
U.K. In this view, NRC President Dr. Larkin Kerwin, left, 1989, presents
Dr. V.S. Ramachandran with the President’s Medal, citing that this Canadian
from India “has contributed significantly to NRC’s reputation as a world
centre of excellence in Cement Science.” [Photo, courtesy R.S. Ramachandran]