John Marinucci and his wife, Sarah Vienot, of The Marinucci Family Foundation, have generously bolstered their ongoing commitment to Mohawk College’s focus on workforce development and education with a $1-million gift supporting the college’s Centre for Professional Advancement (CPA).
In recognition of their generosity, the Centre will be known as The Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement.
The Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement offers employer-sponsored scalable, sustainable, and customized educational offerings, which enable successful onboarding, upskilling, reskilling and the introduction of emerging roles for workforce training that can be applied across industries globally. This remarkable gift will help create new education and employment opportunities and aid employers with their recruitment and retention efforts.
“At the Marinucci Family Foundation, we believe education lights the path to success, which is why we're thrilled to support Mohawk College's Centre for Professional Advancement,” said Marinucci and Vienot, of The Marinucci Family Foundation. “Their innovative approach to develop and deliver tailored curriculum and training programs for industry partners resonates deeply with us, and we're excited to help them transform the way we educate and reskill our workforces in an ever-changing world.”
The Marinucci Family Foundation has been an exceptional supporters of Mohawk College for more than 15 years with prior commitments of $500,000 to the Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation and a $250,000 gift made in support of applied research. Marinucci also served as a member and chair of the Mohawk College Board of Governors from 2009 through 2015.
“We have the right model and the right high-performance team at the Centre to help change workers’ lives and improve communities,” said Mohawk College President Paul Armstrong. “Through this gift and the support of champions like The Marinucci Family Foundation, we are confident the Centre’s programs will benefit workers and employers across Canada.”
In its first two years, the Marinucci Family CPA has developed 18 customized programs and courses for employers to address their specific workforce challenges, training 2,500 learners across three provinces and internationally.
“I am deeply touched by the generosity of the Marinucci family,” said Larisa Volman, Associate Dean of The Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement. “This gift will accelerate our success in leading workforce transformation and position the Centre to make a measurable impact through innovative educational and training solutions.”
The gift will more than double the impact of the Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement with employer partners in Canada and internationally to train 10,000 members of the workforce over the next five years.