Moez Kassam '99 - Bayview Glen

Our first-ever exchange student;
now a globe trotting entrepreneur

Moez has felt at home at Bayview Glen since he joined us on the first day of Grade 7: “The small class sizes meant that we all got to know each other and our teachers very well,” he remembers, “and that intimacy and friendship remains to this day. When you grow up together, it means something. We meet and will just pick up where we left off. It’s a very special bond.”

But the bonds go beyond pleasure, and into business. “A great school produces great alumni, and having shared pivotal experiences creates relationships of trust. I bought my condo from Mazyar Mortazavi, BVG ’92 and rented my office from Krikor Boyajian, BVG ’98. Peter Robinson, BVG ’99 manages my renovations through his contracting company. Matthew Fryer, BVG ’98 sold me my car. The list goes on and on.”

He considers his experiences at Bayview Glen as the ‘blueprint’ for building his successful academic and professional career. He was the first Bayview Glen student to experience a Round Square exchange, moving to Australia in 1997 to live and study with a host family for six months. “For me, it was a natural extension of the ‘Whole Child, Whole Life, Whole World’ philosophy,” explains Moez. “It was the chance to see a different part of the world, to start fresh in a new place where no one had any preconceived notions about who I was – I got a preview of what life as an adult was going to be like.”

In addition to his demanding career as a principal of the Anson Group, a company that acts as the investment manager to a family of hedge funds with assets exceeding 200 million dollars, Moez is actively involved with multiple local charitable organizations such the steering committee for Second Harvest’s Toronto Taste and as board member of Kids Cook to Care. Moez served as the inaugural President of the Bayview Glen Alumni Association and sat of the school’s Board of Directors from 2006 to 2011.

After graduating in 1999, Moez earned his BA at the University of Western Ontario. “I breezed through my undergraduate degree because of the tools we were given at Bayview Glen,” says Moez. “We were so well prepared for university. We knew about time management, note taking, how to focus on what’s important and leave aside the inessentials.”

After years of building an enviable career, Moez took his education to the next level, and sought to complete his MBA at one of the most demanding business school programs in the world: The London Business School in partnership with Columbia University offered a global MBA. The program was taught in London, Dubai, New York and other cities around the world.
Moez completed his independent study in Greece working for the Athens Stock Exchange, where he also had the opportunity to do some teaching, and later wrote a paper about his experience that was published. “Bayview Glen had a profound impact on my life,” Moez continues. “My love of financial markets was sparked when our Economics class made the top three schools in the TD Stock Portfolio Challenge across Ontario. At that point, I was hooked and never looked back.”

Putting all this education and experience to work, Moez is a globe trotting, serial entrepreneur, a pillar of his community. He is a living example that hard work and dedication, when combined with the right educational environment, can produce outstanding results.

Bayview Glen is proud to count Moez Kassam amongst its most Notable Alumni.