THUNDER BAY – Michael Rapino credits his local roots for helping him get to the top of the entertainment industry.
The chief executive officer of Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live music brand, said an early experience promoting a show by the Jeff Healey Band put him on his path.
“I got lucky,” he said. “I found my passion early. That was kind of my north star. I didn’t stop pursuing my dream of doing it bigger and on a grander scale and it took me from Thunder Bay to Toronto to New York to Los Angeles.”
It did not always come easy for Rapino, a 1989 graduate from Lakehead University’s Faculty of Business Administration, who worked alongside people who graduated from more prestigious schools.
Rapino was awarded a honourary doctorate of commerce during the university’s Saturday morning convocation ceremony at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, where he addressed the graduating classes from his former program as well as the Faculty of Education.
He emphasized the ceremony as the close of one chapter but also the beginning of a much larger one.
The key is to always set high goals and to continually push for new heights.
“University is the foundation but then real life starts,” he said.
“If you can start with the ending goal of some passion and figuring out what it is you want to do in life off that foundation of your education then nothing is going to stop you.”
University president Brian Stevenson said Rapino has set a positive example in many different ways.
“He has become an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur in the United States but he’s also given back through foundations and a lot of charity work to the community,” Stevenson said.
“We wanted to recognize both his personal success but his commitment and contribution back to society.”
This year’s other honourary doctorate recipients were Margaret Phillips, a 1980 political science graduate, co-founder of the Northern Women’s Bookstore and social justice advocate, and Dr. Dominic Lam, a world-renowned scientist and innovator who graduated in 1967 with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.
Stevenson said the honourary doctorates were given to alumni of the school who have made a difference in their respective fields.
Selecting alumni celebrates the 50-year history of the university.
“What the students need to see and hear as they begin their life is what the potential is for them in the future,” Stevenson said. “It’s particularly significant for them having alumni who have walked that stage at one point and have now become very successful.”
