Celebrating Exceptional Alumni: Our 2020 Awards Winners

Gerald Chan ’99 received the Alumni Excellence Award, which honors alumni who have distinguished themselves in their professional careers, personal endeavors, and community service. Gerald is a partner with Stockwoods LLP, representing clients in criminal, constitutional, and regulatory litigation. In 2012, he was awarded the Osgoode Law School's Alumni Gold Key as "One to Watch." He has lived up to those expectations, having been counsel on 19 cases in the Supreme Court of Canada, co-editor of Digital Privacy: Criminal, Civil and Regulatory Litigation, published in 2019, and co-author of the ninth edition of Sentencing and Digital Evidence: A Practitioner's Handbook in 2017. Gerald has immersed himself in all areas of the profession, including as President of the Board for the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, a faculty speaker with the Advocates' Society, and a member of the Ontario Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program. In 2019, Gerald was named the Top 25 Most Influential 2019 Award Winner by Canadian Lawyer magazine.

 

Eric Khoury ’06 received the Young Alumni Excellence Award for alumni who have distinguished themselves within 15 years of graduating from Crescent. After studying aerospace engineering at the University of Waterloo, he went on to the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies to study experimental fluid dynamics for his Master's degree. While his research in particle imaging velocimetry was captivating, there was always a deep-seated interest in a career in professional sports. Recognizing his work tracking particles had overlap with what the NBA was beginning to do with tracking the movement of players on the court, Eric reached out to the individual in charge of data analytics for the Toronto Raptors. Eric’s one-year internship has flourished into a 10-year career with the Raptors, where he is now an Assistant Coach and Director of Analytics. While the entire city of Toronto celebrated the Raptors championship in 2019, it was extra-special for Eric and the team that works behind the scenes every day. When he's not travelling or spending time with his young son, Graydon, Eric has enjoyed coming back to Crescent to work with the Senior D1 Basketball team. 

 

Michael Yan ’05 received the Alumni Community Leadership Award, which honours alumni who have demonstrated tremendous volunteer service to Crescent. As one of the original members of Crescent's FIRST Robotics Team 610, Michael’s fingerprints are all over what has become an internationally recognized program at Crescent. After completing his Master of Engineering degree at Queen's University, in 2013 Michael began mentoring the boys of Team 610. Since then, alumni mentorship in robotics has grown from a part-time support network to an institutionalized and invaluable part of the team's strategic direction. Michael and other alumni mentors are regularly at the school on evenings and weekends throughout the year and have accompanied the boys on countless competitions. Michael has been a tremendous role model for the boys of Team 610, ensuring that hard work, ingenuity, enthusiasm and fun are the cornerstone of working in the lab. Michael has also led the way in providing internship opportunities to Team 610 members at his company, Heliolytics, and encouraging other mentors to do the same. The growing success of Crescent’s robotics program is intrinsically tied to the selfless devotion of people like Michael.