An Academic Home Run
Advice from alumni who were scholars and athletes while at TFS
Benjamin Concessi: studying in France for a second career
On being flexible in your career:
“No matter what you do, it will broaden your skill set.
You don’t have to move your career in a linear fashion.”
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Ben Concessi, Class of ’02, is soon to
embark on a second career. That’s after
leaving TFS a mere eight years ago.
Ben is currently in France, studying for
his MBA at INSEAD. This follows four years at Queen’s University
in Kingston, and a further four years at Deloitte & Touche in
Toronto as a chartered accountant. The change in both career
direction and locale had their origins at TFS.
During his TFS years, Ben made time for baseball, soccer, basketball and track and field. His receipt of numerous athletic and
academic awards, including the S.W. Karrys Family Scholarship
and the Senior Male Athlete of the Year Award, attest to his
ability to combine his passion for sports with academic success.
Ben was also very proud to provide the valedictory address to
his graduating class.
The IB Economics course at TFS, which Ben calls “terrific”,
led him to study Commerce at Queen’s University. “The time-
management skills I learned at TFS served me well when I went
to university, so I was able to fit sports into my study schedule,”
Ben remarks. He was a member of the Queen’s University Baseball team which captured the national championship in 2004.
After graduating and working as a CA, Ben felt propelled to
make a change: “TFS instils an international perspective and
curiosity in its students, and that gave me an appetite for international learning”. INSEAD ensures that less than 10% of its
student population comes from any single country. “It’s fantastic
and so incredibly diverse,” says Ben, who will be studying at
the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School on an INSEAD
exchange in the spring.
After the ten-month program (Ben calls it a “fast hit”), he will
graduate with an INSEAD MBA in July 2011. He intends to return to
North America (possibly Toronto), where he looks forward to contributing to the business community. Meanwhile, he’s thoroughly
enjoying being immersed once again in the French culture!
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Heather Trescases: preserving local history in Washington State
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“Find something you love and go for it, because that’s what
drives the non-profit world. People are not in it for the money.”
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20 January 2011
On working for a non-profit organization:
2(172+301) = 946
2 ( 9 0 + 9 0 ) = 36 0
946 - 360= 586
586 fee
et
It’s not surprising that Heather Daly Tres- l’Université de Paul Valéry in France. “It it weren’t for learning
cases, Class of ’96, lives in a city called French at TFS, I never would have been able to do it,” she says.
Bellevue. From Toronto to France, and
Her experience in France also caused to her re-think her career.
now in Washington State, Heather has followed her passion for Heather’s initial intention was to follow her history degree with
history, and now makes it her job to give Bellevue citizens a view law school; however, “learning history in Europe, you become fully
into the past. But it was at TFS where she first discovered the love immersed in it. I thought ‘I’ve got to pursue history further.’”
of history that would become so integral to her future.
She undertook her Master’s in Public History at the University
Heather entered TFS in Grade
6. However, sports-minded
and in of Waterloo, a program which Heather calls “applying history
A regulation
baseball diamond
training as a competitive figure
skater,
shesquare.
found TFS offered little to the real world”. But upon graduation, her now-husband
is 90
feet
in the way of athletics – thatThat
is, until
Mr. Dethe
Fazio,
a physical to
edu- Nicolas Trescases (also TFS’ Class of ’96) received a job offer from
means
distance
cation teacher, arrived during her Level II year and things started Microsoft in Seattle. Not able to work there at first, she instead
each base is 90 feet.
improving. Heather became a core member of both the new track contacted the local historical society to volunteer.
If this is laid out in a field
and field and cross-country teams. Says Heather, “We could earn
She received her work visa at the same time that the organiza172 feet by 301 feet,
competition points just for the number of teammates who turned tion she was volunteering at – the Eastside Heritage Center – was
out, and Mr. De Fazio was all about getting people out!”
looking for an Executive Director, the position she now holds.
how
further
Crediting courses taken at
TFS,much
Heather
went onis
to the
study his- Of her role Heather says, “I didn’t know to what extent I would
tory at Queen’s University,distance
and spent around
her third the
year whole
abroad at love what I am doing.”
field than that around the
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infield?
Please show your work in the
Katherine Pal: a financial career that already spans four continents
On exploring a little-known career:
“If you are interested in an unfamiliar area, like development finance,
don’t drop the idea, research it. I’m so glad that I did!”
Katherine Pal, Class of ’01, recently
returned home to join the family business. During the previous four years, she
had worked in development finance in two entirely divergent
countries –the Netherlands and Sierra Leone. And years before
that, she gained her appreciation for international cultures from
her family and TFS.
Every year of high school at TFS, Katie combined participation
on the soccer, volleyball, and track and field teams with academic
success. Did she find it difficult? Says Katie, “It was the only way
of being that I knew!”
TFS also reinforced her international perspective, amplifying
her deep interest in developing countries first established during
family travels to Kenya, India and beyond.
Katie entered Queen’s University with no firm career in mind,
but studied commerce as an avenue to many professions. In
her third year, she returned to track and field and found that
“the focussed discipline really worked for me.” Post graduation,
she traveled through Asia. Then, on a Colorado ski vacation, she
met a group of Dutch people who told her about FMO, a Dutch
development bank. The rest was history.
She spent two and a half years at the bank, providing debt to
private companies in Latin America, and travelling frequently to
Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. Katie says, “It was such a great experience
and responsibility at such a young age, and living in Europe was
so much fun.”
It also taught her that she preferred “the risk-reward nature of
private equity.” She joined Manocap, a private equity fund that
provides financing to entrepreneurs in West Africa. Admitting that
“It took a lot of courage to do it,” Katie moved to Sierra Leone for
one and a half years. The experience changed her. “Here, we talk
about life and expect to live to an old age. We don’t seize the day.
In Sierra Leone, they know there are no guarantees in life.”
In another moment of career karma, an opportunity arose to
work with her father at Pal Insurance, the family estate planning and life insurance business, so she returned to Canada in
summer 2010. Summing up all her career moves, including the
latest, Katie says: “It’s important for me to feel like I’m helping
people, and I’m doing that at Pal, albeit in a different way than
when I was overseas.”
Toronto French School
Recognizing
Donors
Ted Betts: a Toronto lawyer today, with academic plans for tomorrow
On obtaining a law degree:
“You can’t go wrong; it’s a program based on critical analysis, logic and
delivering clear arguments. All are invaluable skills in any profession.”
Not everyone knows himself well or has
the patience to take the long-term view,
but Ted Betts, Class of ’87, does both.
Pursuing one road in scholarly life and a second professionally has provided for a satisfying career and stimulating plans
post-retirement. It was at TFS, though, that the genesis of Ted’s
intent took shape.
Ted capitalized on every sport available while at TFS. In addition to basketball and soccer, and his role as assistant coach to
the hockey team, he played in any house league that popped
up. What about his studies? “It never felt overwhelming.
We were all able to do it, which reflects the calibre of students
at the School,” Ted says.
One of Ted’s strongest memories of TFS also defined his postsecondary study. “I fell in love with history in Level III because of
Mrs. Gittens. She was such a great storyteller. She brought history
to life for me,” he remarks. Ted went on to pursue both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in history at Queen’s University.
However, after completing his Master’s, Ted was at an
impasse. “I’d always thought about law, since my father
22 January 2011
was a lawyer, and also considered a career in academics.
I couldn’t see my life lived in the stacks,” says Ted, so he decided
to go to law school.
Ted has remained with the same law firm since becoming a lawyer. Now a partner with Blake, Cassels & Graydon
LLP, Ted’s practice is unusually varied, since he specializes in
mergers and acquisitions in the corporate and commercial
realm, and also works in construction and infrastructure, and,
increasingly, renewable energy. He also acts for a number of
charities and non-profit companies, like Evergreen Brick Works
and Family Services Toronto. His experience in renewable
energy has garnered him a sizeable number of clients, to the
extent the firm recently developed a clean technology group,
under Ted’s leadership.
Ted relishes the variety of his work. “I meet very different kinds
of people, from lawyers and those in construction to people in
the solar industry. And I get insight into so many areas of the
economy and the world.”
And Ted already has a plan for retirement. He will go back to
school and obtain his PhD – in history of course.
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