Snippets
Find out what other alumni from our year are up to. If you would like your snippet included in the next issue email us.
Find out what other alumni from our year are up to.
Allan Reid, BA’14
After receiving his BA, Allan went on to complete a Bachelor of Education at Memorial University in 2015. In 2016, he moved to Natuashish, Newfoundland and Labrador, where he taught high school Physical Education for three years. Three of Allan’s Natuashish students were members of the winning Team Newfoundland and Labrador volleyball squad at the Atlantic Indigenous Games held in July 2019 at Saint Mary’s University. For their former teacher, being back at Saint Mary’s for this proud moment was like life coming full circle.
Steve Foran, DipENG’84 MBA’07
Congratulations to Steve Foran, SMU alumnus and former faculty member of the Sobey School of Business, for receiving one of Canada's Trusted Advisor Awards from MacKay CEO Forums. This award recognizes the significant contribution that CEO Trusted Advisors make, in the leadership field, to the success of the Canadian business community. Steve is also the creator and CEO of Gratitude at Work and StatusGRO, programs that help business leaders and their teams bring more gratitude to work each day.
Alana Green, BComm’07
Alana joins McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in the position of Masters Recruitment Officer. In this position Alana will be travelling within Canada and across the globe to find top talent for McGill’s MBA and Master of Management programs. Alana began her career in higher education as a Global Recruitment Officer at the University for the Creative Arts in the UK. Since returning to Canada three years ago, she has served in the role of International Recruitment and Admissions Officer at Mount Allison University. Alana is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration and Leadership at Royal Roads University.
Kelly Thompson, CertHRM’99 BA’07
With over ten years of experience working in real estate property management and administration, Amherst, NS-based Kelly Thompson has chosen to take her career in a new direction by creating her own startup business. That business, GoHire Consulting, assists companies with human resource requirements such as staffing and recruitment, candidate reference checks, and more. GoHire Consulting is a member of CPHR Nova Scotia and can be found on LinkedIn.
Matthew Moore, BComm’05
Halifax native Matthew Moore currently works in the field of marketing, strategy and business development with several Atlantic Canada-based real estate businesses, including Oceanstone Seaside Resort, Premiere Self Storage, Moore Executive Suites and Student Living, and two vacation villas in Barbados.
Matthew recently travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone where he joined forces with Ben John, executive director of Help2Overcome, an organization that provides clean water and toilet facilities to schools in Africa. For this project, Matthew’s team worked for eight days at FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalist) school for girls, building a toilet facility using sustainable toilets imported from the Swedish manufacturer EcoLoo. Matthew’s experience at FAWE was an eye-opening experience and made him grateful for the basic living necessities, like running water and flush toilets, that Canadians take for granted. The 700 students at FAWE were similarly grateful for the gift of safe sanitation.
David Grant, BComm’97
Nasuni, a leading provider of cloud file services, recently announced the appointment of David Grant as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. Grant has extensive senior leadership experience in marketing roles at industry-leading technology companies. In his new position, he will oversee Nasuni’s next stage of growth in the face of unprecedented demand for Nasuni Cloud File Services.
Alice Walsh, BA’97
Now a resident of Gander, NL, Alice has written fourteen books for children and adults. One of her earlier books, Uncle Farley’s False Teeth, has just been reissued by Nimbus Publishing. Children who read the book when it was first published in 1998 are now reading the same story to their children.
Margaret Ludlow, MA’85
Margaret (Peggy) Rupcich-Ludlow BA’62 (USask), BEd’69 (USask), MEd’84 (Dal), MA’85 (SMU) of Dartmouth, NS, was the 2019 recipient of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s International Program Volunteer Recognition Award. This award is presented to an outstanding individual for significant voluntary contributions to the development cooperative work of CTF-FCE and one or more of its partner organizations. Some of Margaret’s volunteer teaching assignments have been in Tanzania, St. Kitts, Nepal, Malawi, Liberia, Jordan, and Ghana.
Blair Beed, BComm’77
Halifax native Blair Beed BComm’77 was the recipient of the 2019 Charitable Irish Society Service Award in recognition of his research into the support given by Irish Americans after the Halifax Explosion of 1917. An authority on Nova Scotia history, he is the author of The 1917 Halifax Explosion and the American Response, and Titanic Victims in Halifax Graveyards. His work has also appeared in National Geographic Traveller, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Herald. He has been featured in both local and international media and is now heard weekly on News Talk Radio 95.7 FM in Halifax, sharing his knowledge of local history with listeners. As a guest speaker, he has given talks at the prestigious British Titanic Society in Southampton, England and The Belfast Titanic Society in Northern Ireland.
Closer to home, Blair holds a lifetime membership in the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, The Atlantic Titanic Society, and the Monarchist League of Canada. He has worked closely with heritage projects in the province and has served as the Heritage Canada Foundation Mainstreet Co-ordinator. Deeply involved in restoration efforts at Saint Patrick’s Church, Blair also curated an exhibition at the church on the centenary of the Halifax Explosion which garnered much attention throughout Canada and the United States.
Mike Chambers, BA’72
The Saint Mary’s community was saddened to hear of the recent death of alumnus Mike Chambers BA’72. A native of Philadelphia, Mike was recruited to play varsity basketball at Saint Mary’s by the late Coach Les Goodwin. He played for the Huskies from his rookie 1968–69 season to his senior year, 1971–72. In his final season, he was co-captain of a young Huskies squad led by first-year coach Brian Heaney. Coach Heaney was a recent graduate of Acadia University and one of the Axemen’s all-time great players. He and Mike competed against each other in Coach Heaney’s senior year at Acadia. Mike Chambers was a fine player, an excellent teammate, and an all-round popular figure on the Saint Mary’s campus.