Outgoing Chancellor Eileen Mercier reflects on six decades of impact at Wilfrid Laurier University

June 25, 2024

While she has witnessed monumental change at Wilfrid Laurier University since first arriving on campus as a first-year student in 1964, Chancellor Eileen Mercier (Hons BA ’68, LLD ’13) says what has remained consistent is more noteworthy.

“The things that have changed are much less important than the things that have stayed the same,” says Mercier. “The feeling of the place, the feeling of community, the friendliness.”

Mercier, Laurier’s ninth chancellor, will complete her second four-year term on June 30. Since being installed in 2016, she has conferred 34,477 degrees, participated in 148 convocation ceremonies, and welcomed 34 honorary degree recipients into the Laurier community. Her service as chancellor adds to a long list of contributions, including serving as chair and a member of the university’s Board of Governors, a volunteer, philanthropist and proud longtime member of the WLU Alumni Choir.

“There hasn’t been any part of being chancellor that wasn’t great, except for the in-person convocations we missed during the pandemic,” says Mercier. “This is a fun job and you are there for significant moments of achievement. It has truly been a rewarding experience.”

Chancellor Eileen Mercier greets graduates in One Market following a convocation ceremony on Laurier’s Brantford campus.

Mercier possesses five decades of business leadership experience and is among the first women in Canada to build a career in corporate governance. In addition to serving as Laurier’s chancellor, she is the former chair of the board of directors of Payments Canada, served as chair of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan board, and held positions as president of Finvoy Management Inc. and senior vice-president and chief financial officer of Abitibi-Price Inc.

She was named one of Canada’s 25 Women of Influence in 2011, inducted into the Women’s Executive Network Hall of Fame in 2018, and has four times been named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women in the Accenture corporate directors category.

While she later earned a Master of Arts in English from the University of Alberta and an MBA from York University, Mercier credits her time at Laurier – known as Waterloo Lutheran University when she attended – for laying the foundation for her career success.

“I later earned my MBA and received some valuable knowledge from that,” she says. “But the way I do things and how I go about solving problems came straight out of my four years at Laurier.”

Chancellor Eileen Mercier addresses convocation at Laurier’s Brantford campus.

Today, Mercier is one of the most recognizable members of the Laurier community. She notes that her long relationship with the institution began for very practical reasons.

“It started out because my parents couldn’t afford to send me to university even though they desperately wanted me to go,” she says. “The only institution that offered me enough money to survive on was what was then Waterloo Lutheran. There would have been nothing for me without it.”

As a high school student, Mercier worked hard to maintain an 80 per cent average, the threshold to become an Ontario Scholar, which helped open doors to her academic future. To help pay for university, she worked during the summer and served as a residence don during the academic year.

“I had a wonderful time,” recalls Mercier. “I was able to work hard and also have all the fun I wanted. I played some sports, I was in the choir and a part of the student government. I ran Homecoming one year. I did what I wanted and had lots of friends I still have reunions with today.”

Mercier credits the guidance and example of strong women during her time as an undergraduate student, in particular Professor Flora Roy, who served as head of the university's English department and helped Mercier secure a summer school placement in England following her third year.

“When there was really no concept of female role model of any kind, Flora Roy was huge for me,” says Mercier. “Not only did she teach me, but she was also a booster. The other two outstanding women were Esther Brandon, who was the ‘Dean of Women’ in those days, and Tamara Giesbrecht, who was the comptroller of the university, who honestly kept the place running.

“So, there were ‘role models’ at the university before that phrase was ever really invented. They were the kind of people who implicitly told you that you could do anything if you worked hard.”

Eileen Mercier, seated at right, as part of the 1967-1968 WLU student council.

Fifteen years after she graduated from Laurier, Mercier first returned to the university in a volunteer capacity, as a fundraiser for the John Aird Centre project during the mid-1980s. She was asked by a senior executive at Gulf Canada, where she was working at the time, to help in the effort.

“It took J.C. Phillips, who was the chair of Gulf Canada, about two seconds to run through the personnel files and find the people who could help do the work,” recalls Mercier. “So that’s how I got back to Laurier. The university later asked me to join the board and everything else unfolded from there.”

Since then, Mercier has dedicated countless hours to Laurier, receiving accolades including the Wilfrid Laurier University Outstanding Business Leader Award in 1991, being named one of Laurier’s 100 Alumni of Achievement in 2011, an honorary degree recipient in 2013, and receiving the Laurier Society Philanthropy Award in 2023.

But perhaps the biggest honour she has received from Laurier came in 2016, when Mercier received a phone call from then university president Max Blouw, who wanted to discuss Laurier’s next chancellor.

“Max called and I thought he was calling me to ask for names, to ask me who I thought should become chancellor,” says Mercier. “I was very surprised to find out it was me he was interested in. I don’t know there is any honour the university could give you that’s bigger than that, so it was very special.”

Donors and dignitaries cut the ribbon to officially open Laurier’s new Savvas Chamberlain Music Building in June 2024.

Mercier said her final convocation ceremonies as chancellor in June were an emotional time. But it was during the ribbon cutting to officially open Laurier’s new Savvas Chamberlain Music Building a week prior to convocation she experienced an especially emotional moment, recalling the memory of late Faculty of Music Dean Glen Carruthers, who envisioned and championed the Faculty of Music renovation before his death in 2020.

“The building looks very much the way Glen envisioned it,” says Mercier. “The atrium and the practice rooms are virtually identical to what he saw in his mind. It really is a credit to current Dean Cynthia Johnston Turner that she was able to look ahead and then go out and enact both her and Glen’s vision.”

Music is a subject close to Mercier’s heart. In her final month as chancellor, she generously gifted $1.4 million to establish The Eileen Mercier Professorship in Voice and Choral Music Education, an endowed professorship within the Faculty of Music. The gift will serve to attract and retain a faculty member who will inspire students studying Voice and Choral Music and engage in creative scholarship. 

“Music has become more important to me over the years,” she says. “Partly because of seeing how difficult it can be to get money for music.”

As part of her philanthropic endeavours, Mercier also previously created the Eileen Mercier Arts Scholarship, the Eileen Mercier Science Scholarship, and the Hamish P. Mercier Scholarship. She was also a major supporter of the Making Space for Music campaign to renovate Laurier’s Faculty of Music and takes pride in the scholarships supported by the WLU Alumni Choir, including the WLU Alumni Choir Voice Performance Scholarship.

“Chancellor Mercier’s contributions to Laurier are more than exemplary,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah MacLatchy. “Her service as chancellor, a board member, philanthropist and volunteer have served to make Laurier a stronger community and enriched the lives of our students. We are grateful not only for her service as chancellor, but also for the many other ways she gives back to the university.”

Chancellor Eileen Mercier addresses convocation at Laurier’s Waterloo campus.

After serving as chancellor for eight years, Mercier is considering what comes next. While she isn’t exactly sure, she says she hopes to maintain a strong connection with the Laurier community.

“People ask me what I’m going to do now,” she says. “I have no idea and I’m going to have to give that a lot of thought. Serving as chancellor has occupied a place in my thoughts and feelings for such a very long time.”

Looking to the future, Mercier is looking forward to the launch of Laurier’s new Milton campus, growth at the university’s Brantford campus, and continued success in Waterloo and Kitchener. It is her hope that, as Laurier grows, the university will maintain the sense of community she first encountered arriving on campus in 1964.

“The place where you grew up is the place where your heart is – there’s no question about that,” says Mercier. “When I attended, the university was tiny and everybody knew everybody. What I’ve been amazed at is that successive presidents have been able to preserve that feeling even though the place is 10 times bigger now. It has remained a mid-sized university with a small feel – and a very special place.”