When it comes to personal and professional success, Canadian business leader Paul Hill credits the pursuit of principles and self-improvement as keys to achievement.
Hill spoke to 602 graduates from King’s University College and School of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies at the Tuesday, June 12 afternoon session of Western’s 299th Convocation.
Western conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws upon Hill in recognition of his leadership and humanitarian efforts in business as well as communities at home and across the globe.
“I want to ask of graduates ‘What’s your big idea in life?’ I challenge you to think about it. What are your guiding principles? Honesty? Integrity?” Hill asked. “Think of these and keep them in your heart. Use them in your thoughts. Make your decisions being guided by those principles.”
A graduate of Georgetown University and Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business, Hill has served on more than 15 corporate and educational boards. He is a founding board member of the Asia Pacific Foundation and chair, president and CEO of The Hill Companies, an organization that manages and owns properties, develops commercial, retail and residential real estate and owns of a variety of companies throughout western Canada and the United States. Hill assumed the already successful family business, established two generations ahead of him, bringing to it an innovative perspective that has diversified the company’s businesses. The company remains a driving force of strategic growth in Hill’s native province of Saskatchewan.
After meeting Mother Teresa in the 1980s, Hill and his wife heeded her call to respond to the needs of their own community, becoming champions of education at home in Canada. The two are long-time supporters of Athol Murray College of Notre Dame (Wilcox); Campion College, University of Regina, where the Faculty of Business now bears Hill’s name; One Life Makes a Difference, a foundation started by the Hills to help students in difficult situations attend school; and Ivey.
Recently, the couple established a Nativity Miguel school in Regina, named after Mother Teresa, which provides first-class education to inner-city youth.
He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Regina, was entrusted as a Knight of St. Sylvester by Pope Benedict for his service to the community and church and has received a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2011, The Hill Companies was named the Saskatchewan business of the year.
Hill told graduates to look continuously for opportunities to better themselves and to help others.
“Do something that you love, something you have passion for. Surround yourself with people who are better than you are at what they do, people that you can look up to and people you can learn from. That will all contribute to a successful life not only for you, but for those around you.”
In his citation, King’s principal David Sylvester said Hill is a great example of citizenship, being a business leader, philanthropist and visionary.
“His leadership, within his family business, within his city and across this country sets him apart as a catalyst for positive change. Paul Hill exemplifies how a leader in business can and should become a leader in his community. In addition to his remarkable contributions to the business world he has repeatedly chosen to use his time, talent and treasure to the benefit of his immediate community and the broader good,” he said.
Also during the ceremony King’s Psychology professor Christopher Roney was presented as the recipient of the King’s University College Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The status of professor emeritus was also conferred upon History professor Desmond Dutrizack.