SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2015 

 Margo Baptista – Leading Change: Governance, Learning, Teaching, Engagement

Margo Baptista is the University Secretary and has been with Grant MacEwan University since 1989.  She began her career in post-secondary education with Keyano College.  Prior to this Margo held various administrative positions with the Royal Bank of Canada (Labrador and Alberta) and the Federal Aviation Administration (Germany).

With more than 29 years of experience in post-secondary education, Margo is respected among her peers for her in-depth knowledge of current trends and issues in higher education and her expertise in board governance activities such as orientation, development, evaluation and presidential search.  She has presented extensively at provincial workshops and national conferences on board governance topics and the role of professional board staff.

Margo was a founding member of the ACCC Professional Board Staff Network, which was renamed in 2014 to the CICan Governance and President’s Office Professionals (GPOP). She is currently a member of the Canadian University Boards Association (CUBA) and the Council of Western Canadian University Board Secretaries (COWCUBS).  In addition, Margo is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE) and a founding member of CSSHE’s Governance Affinity Group, a network of post-secondary governance practitioners and researchers.

Margo graduated in 2006 from Athabasca University with a Bachelor of Administration (with Great Distinction) majoring in Organizational Behaviour. In 2009, Margo completed a Master of Arts in Leadership through Royal Roads University and received the University’s Founder’s Award for the 2007-3 cohort for exemplifying the qualities of leadership, sustainability, and personal development. For her graduate research study, Margo used action research and knowledge management theory to explore the governance roles of board succession planning and presidential search within the Alberta and British Columbia public post-secondary systems.

Leading Change_Margo Baptista

 

Sarah Khan – Let’s Put on an Event: Event Management 101

Sarah Khan is a 17-year veteran of the event industry and has worked on big budget events here in Canada and internationally, having spent nearly 8 years working on events in Europe and the Middle East. Having worked across a variety of sectors (including sport, entertainment, education and corporate), Sarah’s expertise allows her to bring realism and hands-on experience to her sessions. She is currently the lead instructor in the Administrative Assistant Certificate Program at Red River College and is an independent trainer and consultant within the business and event sectors in Canada.  In addition to event management, she teaches personal and professional development skills and social intelligence.

Event Planning & Protocol_Sarah Khan

 

 

Kathy Denton – Fine-tuning the Executive Ensemble

Dr. Kathy Denton is the President and CEO of Douglas College.  She obtained her PhD in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, and is a postdoctoral Fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  Dr. Denton has worked at Douglas College since 1993, first as a faculty member, then in a sequence of administrative positions:  Chair of Psychology, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vice President Academic and Provost.

As VP Academic and Provost, Dr. Denton was responsible for all educational programs at the College, as well as the professional development and research activities that enable faculty to stay current and engaged.  Her responsibilities also included external partnerships related to educational programs and research.  Dr. Denton played a key role in developing and implementing an innovative degree partnership program with SFU.  She also introduced a first year program that enables students to explore their interests before making a commitment to a specific area of study. These and other initiatives reflect her commitment to student mobility, flexible curriculum, and system-wide planning and cooperation.

Although Dr. Denton has spent most of her career in administrative roles, she has continued to stay active in research.  She is interested in social processes that support people’s misrepresentations of themselves, including their failures, personal limitations, and moral transgressions.

The Executive Ensemble_Kathy Denton