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THE HEAVY LIFTERS - Stanstead College

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ers encouraged her to capitalize on her<br />

science abilities and apply for<br />

Engineering at Queen’s University. She<br />

did and she was accepted.<br />

“Again, I don’t think I would have<br />

done that if I was in a larger school and<br />

didn’t know where I was going and no<br />

one cared,” she says.<br />

Coming from a background that she<br />

describes as “not spoiled but fortunate,”<br />

Marie Pier found that <strong>Stanstead</strong> instilled<br />

in her a sense of responsibility and a<br />

sense of gratitude. It also introduced her<br />

to friends from around the world, many<br />

of whom she still keeps in touch with.<br />

During her summers at Queen’s, Marie<br />

Pier went international herself, studying<br />

languages in Spain, Germany and China.<br />

After university, with seemingly little out<br />

there for Engineering grads, she studied<br />

yoga instruction in California and taught<br />

yoga back in Canada.<br />

But, describing it as “an elastic that<br />

pulls you back,” the family business<br />

called to her, and Marie Pier became part<br />

of the team in 2006.<br />

It was an exciting time to sign on.<br />

Already established as pioneers in the<br />

boutique-hotel concept, with hotels in<br />

Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto,<br />

Groupe Germain was preparing to open<br />

its first ALT Hotel in Brossard when<br />

Marie Pier came on board.<br />

The Quartier Dix30, as the South<br />

Shore hotel is called, is described by the<br />

company as “no frills-chic… an alternative<br />

to the typical mid-range hotel experience,<br />

focusing on exceptional design,<br />

comfort and service.” All rooms are $129<br />

a night, although, in a unique move,<br />

every day one customer who has<br />

reserved online gets his or her room for<br />

only $1.<br />

It’s also the first hotel in Canada to<br />

incorporate geothermal heating and<br />

cooling as well as many other “green”<br />

features.<br />

The company recently rebranded its<br />

Quebec City hotel, Hotel Germain-des-<br />

Prés, as an ALT Hotel.<br />

And now, Groupe Germain has its<br />

eyes set on booming Calgary, where next<br />

year, the company plans to open a<br />

condo-hotel-office complex. Earlier this<br />

year, all 40 condos sold out in one day.<br />

The next phase is the office space, and<br />

Marie Pier has been handed the task of<br />

filling them as Director of Leasing.<br />

That may be her official title but, in a<br />

family business with a lot of balls in the<br />

air, Marie Pier describes herself as a<br />

“hybrid” – she does what needs doing.<br />

Again, her education has helped her<br />

manage.<br />

“I use engineering every day, whether<br />

for problem solving or visualizing concepts,<br />

planning out rooms for Calgary or<br />

our projects in Toronto and other<br />

Canadian cities,” she says. “It’s very efficient<br />

and to the point. That’s not something<br />

you’re born with.”<br />

Marie Pier is grateful to have the<br />

opportunity to work in the family company<br />

and realizes that, at 26, she has a lot<br />

more responsibility than she might have<br />

elsewhere.<br />

“It’s a great feeling to work with my<br />

family,” she says. “Everyone works so<br />

hard nowadays that at least knowing my<br />

efforts are going towards making our<br />

company better makes me feel good<br />

about working hard.”<br />

Despite a hectic schedule flying back<br />

and forth between Montreal and Calgary,<br />

Marie Pier agreed last fall to become a<br />

member of <strong>Stanstead</strong>’s Council of<br />

Trustees.<br />

“<strong>Stanstead</strong> is a big part of my life. I<br />

had a fantastic experience at boarding<br />

school,” she says. It’s an honour to be<br />

asked to be a trustee. It’s just a question<br />

of finding the time to do it properly.”<br />

Room at the ALT Dix30<br />

5<br />

Industries. Doug<br />

l a u n c h e d<br />

International Dairy<br />

in 1996. Based in<br />

Oakville, the company<br />

buys and sells<br />

dairy products internationally<br />

and is the<br />

largest supplier of butter fat to the ice<br />

cream industry in Canada.<br />

Allan S. Metrick 1968<br />

Allan was born in Montreal and attended<br />

<strong>Stanstead</strong> <strong>College</strong> in 1967-68 before continuing<br />

his education at Loyola <strong>College</strong>.<br />

Allan is a former director of the<br />

Constance Lethbridge Hospital in<br />

Montreal and of the Parkinson<br />

Foundation of<br />

Quebec. Currently<br />

Allan is president and<br />

CEO of a real estate<br />

company with several<br />

properties in downtown<br />

Montreal. Allan<br />

started a tradition of giving every child in<br />

the Montreal Children's Hospital a present<br />

at Christmas. His collection of antiques<br />

includes the real Grey Cup presented in<br />

1906 by His Excellency Earl Grey<br />

Governor General of Canada. Allan<br />

resides in Montreal with Rocket, his dog.<br />

Zubin Panthaki 1985<br />

Zubin is a former <strong>Stanstead</strong> Scholar. After<br />

graduating in 1985, he attended McGill<br />

University where he earned his bachelor’s<br />

with honours in Electrical Engineering,<br />

his medical degree and his training in plastic<br />

surgery. He completed a fellowship in<br />

reconstructive<br />

microsurgery and<br />

hand surgery at<br />

Buncke Clinic in San<br />

Francisco and joined<br />

the University of<br />

Miami, Miller School<br />

of Medicine in the<br />

Division of Plastic Surgery in 2001 as<br />

assistant professor of clinical surgery. He<br />

is chief of the Division of Plastic - Hand<br />

Surgery at the Miami Veteran’s Affairs

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