TOP 10 BLACKS IN TECH
Grounded in Excellence
Robert Corion Senior Vice President, Kapsch TrafficCom North America
Robert Corion was born in Sheffield, England from parents of Caribbean descent. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, although he spent many summers where his relatives lived in the island country of Grenada.
"I was in fifth grade – when I got my paper route. I'd get up every Sunday to deliver the Toronto Sun. And the paper would come like five in the morning and I'd have to wake up and pack it and then put it on my red wagon and deliver to the subdivision across the street. But that created sort of a work ethic. In eighth grade, I was one of the top ten carriers in the city in sales."
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When Corion’s parents first moved to Toronto from the UK, Corion and his sisters and brother went back to live with their aunts and grandparents just until Corion’s parents were established and set up with a house and jobs. “That’s a traditional thing that happens in the Caribbean culture, and it enabled us to build bonds with the country and our family. Then, when we moved to join them in Toronto, we were very appreciative for the different environment that we saw in Toronto. They meant for us to stay rooted and grounded in our heritage and understand what hard work is.” Corion’s father was an electrician for the railway, and his mother ended up going back to George Brown College, once his youngest sister was in junior high, and became a nurse practitioner working in geriatrics. Since both of Corion’s parents were very professional, going to college “was mandatory” in his family. Education was very important in their household from the time the children were very young. “I can remember in first grade when I would come home, and my father would have math for us to do in addition to what we did in school.” Corion was an overachiever as a child, however, and didn’t mind too much. Ever since he was eight years old, Corion would wake up naturally and refreshed after only about 5 hours of sleep, SEPTEMBER 2019
