As one of the few women in the business when she first joined the port industry, Hai Chi Yuet [BBA ’78] had a hard time making herself heard. Not anymore, wrote Singapore’s The Business Times March 8.
Today, Hai – or Chi, as her colleagues call her – easily draws attention as one of the top-ranking women in the sector. The 56-year-old is chief executive officer of the trustee-manager for Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPH Trust), which looks set to raise the biggest sum of money in an initial public offering in Singapore.
When HPH Trust lists this month, Hai will be part of a select group of women leading companies listed in Singapore. Point this out, however, and she responds matter-of-factly. "I happen to be a female, yes," she says, and laughs.
Hai has been in the port industry for more than 20 years, working her way up in the male-dominated sector.
It was difficult for women in the industry to get attention in the early days. "You had to say ‘Listen, I’ve got a point to make’. Because men, they really like to express themselves and talk…I have to say women’s approach is different," she recalls. "But now, of course, I don’t have to say anything," she quips.
Hai graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from York University in Toronto, Canada.
She also serves on several public bodies. For instance, she is a member of the Election Committee for the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and president of the Shenzhen Ports Association.
Business grad was ‘blown away’ by graphology
My initial skepticism about graphology, what seemed to me like a quaint Holmesian practice about as accountable as phrenology, quickly eroded after I sat down across from Annette Poizner [BA Spec. Hons. ’89], wrote a reporter for Toronto’s Annex Gleaner March 7 in a story about the Annex-based social worker’s March 10 lecture at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, titled "The Psychology of Handwriting”.
Poizner first encountered graphology in her early 20s, when she was in Israel and had her handwriting analyzed. “It blew me away,” she said of the formative experience. She then hired a clinical graphologist and spent three hours a day in private study with him in Jerusalem.
[After graduating from York with a BA in 1985] Poizner went back to do a second undergraduate degree in psychology [Faculty of Health], and then her master of science degree in social work at Columbia University in New York, NY.
She then completed a doctorate of education, specializing in counselling psychology from the University of Toronto. Her dissertation examined the use of graphology as a psychotherapeutic tool.
New Law Society bencher to serve short term
William Kaplan [LLB ’83] has been appointed as the Law Society of Upper Canada’s newest bencher, wrote the Law Times March 7. But with just weeks until the next election, he could be in for one of the shortest terms in the Law Society’s history.
Kaplan replaces Glenn Hainey following his appointment to the bench. Kaplan was the next name on the list based on the 2007 election, but hasn’t put himself forward as a candidate this time.
Kaplan, a Toronto lawyer, arbitrator and mediator, can now add an extra line to an already bulging resumé. After collecting law degrees from [York’s] Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto and [California’s] Stanford Law School, Kaplan was a professor at the University of Ottawa. He has also written more than 15 books, including a biography of former Supreme Court justice Ivan Rand and another on the Airbus affair.
York fine arts grad loses battle with cancer
Surrounded by her loving family and friends, Julie Ann O’Rourke, 30, of Bayfield died peacefully on Friday at the London Health Sciences Centre’s Palliative Care Unit after a courageous three-year fight with adenoid cystic carcinoma, wrote the Stratford Beacon-Herald March 7.
[O’Rourke] graduated from York University with a bachelor of fine arts [BFA Spec. Hons. ’04] and then spent some time exploring the world.
On air
- Ian Roberge, political science professor at York’s Glendon College, spoke about Ontario’s economy and a proposal to merge the Toronto and London stock exchanges, on Radio Canada’s “Classe Economique” (Montreal) March 7.
- Chun Peng, biology professor in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, spoke about her research into ovarian cancer, on Toronto’s Fairchild TV March 4.