Carleton appointed Charles Chi, a 45-year old entrepreneur and Carleton graduate, as the university’s 11th and youngest chancellor Aug. 29, according to Carleton press release.
Chi studied engineering at Carleton and graduated in 1988, according to the release.
He will succeed Rt. Hon. Herb Gray, who has served as a minister under three different prime ministers.
Since graduating from Carleton, Chi has become an entrepreneur and innovator, selling his optical networking company Lightera Networks for a reported $452 million in the 1990s, The Province reported.
He is now the executive chairman of Lytro, a company that is making a camera that uses light points to capture all the light coming from an object, allowing for 3D pictures that can be focused after they’ve been taken, according to Lytro’s website.
Chi said his education at Carleton was valuable for his work today.
“One can strive to live out one’s full potential. Carleton University is a great starting point for that,” he said in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen.
“To this day, I still apply the principles of what I learned in my engineering education to what I do.”
Chi told the Citizen he is enthusiastic about helping Carleton.
“I’m very open-minded and looking to serve the best way I can, so if there are opportunities for me to do things abroad for Carleton or in Silicon Valley for Carleton I’m very eager to do so,” he said.
Chi will officially take over the post in November, at which point he will become Carleton’s youngest chancellor, taking the record from former astronaut Marc Garneau, who was 52 when he was appointed.