About Us
Riverview serves the needs of young men in Montreal since 1968. Its programs foster the harmonious development of high school, CEGEP and university students by helping them to become competent, generous and responsible men committed to contributing to the common good of society.
Personal excellence, good work and study habits, professional ambition are encouraged in the context of spirit of service, dedication to the family, openness to those in need and love of personal freedom and responsibility.
Riverview is operated by Riverview Study Centre, a charitable organization (Federal Charity number: 88805 4426 RR 0001). The Chairman of the Board of Directors is Me Richard Sabbagh. Also on the board are Raul Iglesias, Sassine Bou-assy and Fadi Sfeir.
Riverview's staff currently include:
Salvador Rego, Director.
Born in Spain, Salvador studied Chemical Engineering at McGill University (B.Eng. ’99). He started his career at Chipworks Inc. in Ottawa doing reverse engineering of microchips. He also completed a Master’s Degree at the University of Ottawa before moving to Ernescliff in 2004 to begin a doctorate at the University of Toronto. Salvador completed this in 2008, with a thesis on the infrared radiation emitted by gases in industrial furnaces. In 2008, he joined Tenova Goodfellow Inc., an engineering services company based in Mississauga.
A resident of Riverview during his undergraduate studies at McGill, Salvador has returned as Director in June 2010.
Giorgio Benetti, Assistant Director.
Giorgio Benetti Graduated in Electronics Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy in 1993. He has worked as a software designer in data acquisition and networking with several companies in Milan and Montreal where he resides since 1994. He is currently Principal Software Designer with EXFO's Telecom & Datacom division in Montreal.
You can reach Giorgio at: .
Andrew Helmers, Treasurer.
A native of Toronto, Andrew graduated from the University of Toronto with a M.Sc. and is currently in the MD program at McGill University. During his studies in Toronto Andrew was involved with several programs for high school and university youth at Ernescliff College, and he is now involved with Riverview's Leadership Program and Big Picture Seminar.
Rev. Eric Nicolai, Ph. D., Chaplain.
Rev. Eric Nicolai was born in Montreal in 1963 and grew up in St. Lambert of German immigrants with a Lutheran background. In 1982 he was received into he Catholic Church. In 1987 he obtained a B.A. in art history at McGill University and later an M.A. in the same field from Laval University in Quebec City. In 1990 he went to Rome to study theology for five years. Fluent in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, he worked frequently as an official translator for the synods of bishops at the Vatican. On September 15th 1994 he was ordained to the priesthood for the Prelature of Opus Dei by Cardinal Angelo Sodano. In 1996 he obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
You can reach Rev. Eric Nicolai at: .
Prof. Roderick Macdonald, Ph. D., Mentor.
Roderick Macdonald is associate professor of Management and Technology at the École des sciences de la gestion (UQAM) in Montreal. His current interest is the influence of economic assumptions on management practice. He has published several scholarly articles on strategic management in new industries, as well as two books on business ethics. He has taught in advanced management programs in various countries and is an officer, director or trustee of several non-profits, including the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice trust in Canada and East Asian Educational Association (Hong Kong).
Neil Junting Guo, Tutor.
Neil Junting Guo was born and raised in the beautiful northeast harbor city of Dalian, China and moved to Canada in 2002. In the summer of 2005 he was communications officer for Academic, Sports and Enrichment program (ASE) and Big Picture Seminar (BPS), two youth development programs run in Toronto. Neil lived at Riverview between 2006 and 2008. In 2008 he graduated from McGill's University faculty of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering and is currently working at Nuance Communications in Montreal as a Software Engineer.