Earning His MBA Was a Matter of Personal Growth

Earning His MBA Was a Matter of Personal Growth

 

Francesco Aquilini (’94) receives the 2022 John E. Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award

August 28, 2022

  • Francesco Aquilini (’94) received the John E. Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award in honor of his business ethics, philanthropy and service to communities
  • A managing director in his family’s businesses, Aquilini didn’t need an MBA to land a job or earn a promotion, he wanted to improve his on-the-job outcomes
  • Aquilini is most recognizable on his home turf as owner of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks

Luigi Aquilini immigrated to Canada from Italy seven decades ago. He founded Aquilini Investment Group (AIG) in the 1960s. Today, the Vancouver-based company has interests in a variety of industries, including real estate, agriculture and renewable energy, though it’s fair to say that it’s the ownership of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks that creates the most headlines.

Now nearing 90 years old, Luigi still goes to the office every day, though he’s turned over the day-to-day operation of the family business to his sons, Francesco (’94), Roberto and Paolo. He bequeathed the brothers more than just lofty job titles and ownership shares. He instilled in them the value of hard work, the importance of philanthropy and responsibility to the community. These values guide Francesco in his many endeavors — and in recognition of said values, UCLA Anderson selected him as recipient of the 2022 John E. Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award. The award honors distinguished alumni whose personal lives, professional achievements and community service exemplify the objectives of their alma mater.

“My dad’s quite a character,” Aquilini says. “He doesn’t have to work, he just loves what he does. He loves to create things, create jobs and provide strategic advice on complex negotiations. Even today, you’ll go to his office and there’ll be five people having lunch with him and having a glass of wine. It’s a cultural thing.”

The “cultural thing” Aquilini describes is much, much more than imbibing a bit of wine at lunch. It’s really about hard work and making the most of one’s opportunities. “My dad never really gave me anything. All he did was give me opportunities.”

That was the mindset that drew Aquilini to consider earning an MBA. He’ll be the first to acknowledge that he didn’t need the degree to land a job or earn a promotion. Rather, he wanted the degree to improve his on-the-job outcomes.

Although he was working for his father, Aquilini says he was allowed to “do his own thing,” acting as both an entrepreneur within the greater corporate framework and as a “mini-CEO” of the projects he worked on, including the expansion of AIG’s real estate interests. “I realized I wasn’t getting the results I wanted to get. I was working hard but was making some mistakes,” Aquilini says. “I talked to some friends who’d done an MBA and they raved about it. They were guys who are a little bit older than me and they really encouraged me.”

For Aquilini, supporting his father and his family was important, but it was also important to make his own mark. “In Vancouver, my dad is well-known. He’s one of the guys that kind of built the city. So, I had to decide if I wanted to live under his shadow or break away,” Aquilini says. “But living under his shadow is not in my DNA. I like to grow, I like to do things on my own. I thought if I could get some structure from earning an MBA, I would learn things that I would never learn if I just stayed within the family business. That’s what motivated me.

“Getting an MBA — getting the right education — was a matter of personal growth,” he says.

Aquilini’s love of California was one reason he chose to enroll at UCLA Anderson. But it was the schedule and environment of the Executive MBA program that sealed the deal. “I saw my education as a complement to my work, because I never stopped working when I was in the program,” he says. “I also really liked the fact that the EMBA students were a little bit older and we could learn from each other’s experience.”

Today, Aquilini divides his time among a number of AIG’s endeavors. “What I really believe in is getting good managers, competent people. Pay them well, compensate them well, make them feel like part of the family and then kind of step back and let them do their job. And if they do it well, they don’t hear from me,” Aquilini says. “I kind of go where the problems are.”

It would be categorically unfair to characterize running the Canucks as a “problem.” But Aquilini himself acknowledges that when the team isn’t winning, his attention is required.

“In the family, I’m ‘the hockey guy,’ the one who has responsibility for the hockey operation,” he says. Aquilini goes on to detail how he likely gave too much time to a loyal and longtime team general manager, and that a change was likely in order sooner. Last December, Aquilini brought in veteran hockey executive Jim Rutherford as team president, and Rutherford in turn brought in Patrik Allvin as general manager.

“I've never met anyone who knows as much about hockey, or as many people connected to the game,” Aquilini says of Rutherford. “Now I spend very little time on hockey. We just have regular meetings to go over plans and look at what we’ll be doing next year. But I can sleep at night because I have really strong, competent people running things.” This is the Francesco Aquilini way: Bring in the best possible people, treat them like family, support their efforts and let them do their jobs to the best of their ability.

The projects that command much of his attention these days involve several of Canada’s First Nations. Aquilini has built extensive relationships with First Nations communities that go back over 20 years; he notes that these relationships are based on “mutual respect, trust and appreciation for traditional customs and cultural values.” Through the process of reconciliation, First Nations are now starting to own their land (fee simple and reserve) and, Aquilini says, “we are partnering with them to develop new sustainable communities and industrial sites that reflect their culture and values. We have something like 20 million square feet, so we’re talking about 30,000 residential apartments, plus movie studio, recreation and industrial sites, that we’re collectively going to build and develop over 30 years. Given the enormous benefits these developments can bring to our First Nations partnership communities, these projects are my highest priority.”

Success in business is not the be-all, end-all for Aquilini and his family. The Aquilinis spend much of their time and resources on philanthropic causes as well. Helping others is part of the family DNA, and sometimes that starts with their extended AIG family.

When the COVID-19 pandemic gripped North America, the NHL shut down like everything else. Rogers Arena sat empty, and that meant that the thousands of people who work there on game night were out of work. Aquilini wanted to preserve employment for the employees who were affected by the COVID-mandated closures.

So, AIG pivoted.

As it happens, Rogers Arena boasts the biggest kitchen in Vancouver, which makes sense when you realize it needs to feed up to 18,000 people on game night. So the organization started preparing meals for the Salvation Army, and supplying charities and senior citizen homes. “In about a year and a half, we delivered one million meals to people’s homes. I was pretty proud of that and proud to be part of it,” Aquilini says.

The desire to help is rooted in the family history. Aquilini explains that the high school he went to “was on the wrong side of the tracks” and the neighborhood was rough. Thanks to his strict parents, he stayed out of trouble and became one of the few students from his high school who advanced to higher education. Today, the Aquilini family offers support to kids from their old neighborhood, provides scholarships and job training, and, once people qualify, offers them jobs that range from cook to electrician, and from office positions to work with the Canucks.

The Canucks.

Although Aquilini ’s interests are wide-ranging, one can’t help but come back to the hockey team he runs. When he’s recognized out and about in Vancouver, it’s not because of his work with First Nations or his philanthropy. No, it’s because the local team is either winning or it’s not — and one way or the other, fans have something to say. Alas, maybe the one thing an MBA can’t do is ensure winning seasons. Still, one can’t help but wonder about the business of the NHL and what changes might be in store as the league evolves to meet the tech-savvy fans of the future.

“It’s hard for some to watch hockey on TV because it’s so fast. So they’re trying to do things that make it easier to watch, and ‘puck tracking’ is a big one,” says Aquilini. “As things evolve, we’re going to have the virtual arena. I think that’s coming. It’s where you can put on a set of goggles and then it’s like you’re inside the arena. Stadiums hold 18,000 people and, over time, that’s not going to be enough. Years from now, you might need a 30,000-seat stadium, but people are not going to build them, so we have to go virtual.”

That’s in the future. For now, Aquilini is honored to be the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.

“My initial reaction was a little bit of shock,” he says. “To be in the company of the past recipients and to know that so many other candidates could be just as deserving make this a very special honor.”

Past recipients of the John E. Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award:

2021: Janice Chaffin (’81)
2020: Stewart Bainum (’70)
2019: Joel Fried (’86)
2018: Bernard Briskin (’49)
2017: Robert Murley (’74)
2016: Jim Moffatt (’87)
2015: Lonnie Ali (’86)
2014: John E. Parker (’50)
2013: Robert D. Beyer (’83)
2012: Marshall Goldsmith (Ph.D. ’77)
2010: Ambassador Lester B. Korn (’60)
2009: Richard C. Crowell (’80)
2008: Louise L. Francesconi (78)
2007: Laurence D. Fink (B.A. ’74, ’76)
2006: Kip Hagopian (’66)
2005: Ric Kayne (’68)
2004: Jeff Henley (’67)
2003: Eugene Rosenfeld (’56)
2002: John E. Anderson (B.S. ’40)