Employee Alumni Coffee Hour

DJP Campus: February 26, 3 p.m. N002

Welland Campus: February 29, 3 p.m. S174

Excitement is percolating for NC alumni who also work at the College with two Employee Alumni Coffee Hour events planned for February 2024.

Hosted by Alumni Relations, Employee Alumni Coffee Hour is an opportunity for alumni employees to connect with their peers and alumni colleagues on campus while enjoying a warm beverage. Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet NC’s new Alumni Relations team. President Sean Kennedy is expected to attend both events and Vice President, Advancement Gord Arbeau is slated to attend on February 26.

“Employee Alumni have a special place in our College community – not only are they graduates but they’ve chosen to continue their ‘NC journeys’ through their careers,” said Arbeau, “We are proud of our thriving Employee Alumni community and their tremendous contributions to student success.

“We look forward to celebrating them and connecting with them through these events.”

“Last year’s debut of alumni coffee hour was a resounding success and we’re looking forward to continuing our new tradition in 2024,” said Jana Boniferro, Director, Development and Alumni Relations. “We encourage all employees who are also alumni to attend one of our events this month.”

Complimentary beverages (coffee, tea and juice) and treats will be available (while supplies last).

This is a free event that is open to all NC alumni who work at the College.

Employee Alumni Coffee Hour will be held at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake on February 26 at 3 p.m. (N002) and at the Welland Campus on February 29 at 3 p.m. (S174).

Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP by emailing [email protected] along with the date/campus they plan to attend.

Update your contact info

All internal alumni (whether or not they’re attending Internal Alumni Coffee Hour) are encouraged to update their contact information with Alumni Relations at here.

If his alma mater hadn’t accommodated his learning disability and convinced him to not drop out of college, Mark Carl wouldn’t be a nominee for a 2023 Premier’s Award. Instead, he’d be one of the clients he helps.

“My professors knew I understood the coursework and had what it takes to complete the assignments,” Carl said. “But I didn’t, and it was a real struggle for me. It wasn’t until they encouraged me to talk to a Learning Resources counselor to arrange academic accommodations that I decided to stay and obtain my diploma.”

Carl, who’s been nominated for a Premier’s Award in the Community Services category, not only went on to graduate from NC’s Business Administration – Marketing program in 1997, he also received a post-graduate certificate in International Trade the same year.

Today, Carl is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Niagara and leads a team of 300 staff and volunteers who annually fundraise $940,000 to ensure low-income families have safe, secure and affordable homes.

He also oversees three retail ReStores, where new and gently used home improvement items are sold to help contribute to operating costs.

He credits his college-obtained business and strategic planning skills for preparing him for his leadership roles, and for rescuing not one, but two of his employers from financial deficits and putting them into surpluses.

During his six years as Executive Director of the Hope Centre in Welland, Carl restored the emergency homeless shelter’s financial situation through partnerships and donations of $1 million, then heeded the community’s call to transition it into a full-fledged social service hub.

He grew the facility from 4,000 to 16,000 square feet to accommodate seven additional agencies, including a Soup Kitchen (that now serves 8,000 meals annually), Food Bank (that feeds 15,800 annually), Psychotherapy and Additions Counseling (for up to 70 clients, up from 20), Housing Stability programs, and many other support services.

He furthermore secured $3 million through corporate partnerships for an additional 20-unit social housing building, and his team is on track to build more affordable homes than ever: five by the end of 2023, and a total of 30 by 2028. Because of this, 150 individuals in 30 families will escape housing insecurity by qualifying for mortgages that charge only 30 per cent of their income.

This significant increase in construction is made possible through Carl’s prudent business and strategic planning that elevated Habitat Niagara out of a deficit and into a surplus. His team’s four-year fundraising goal is $10 million; $4 million has already been secured.

His time at Niagara College also inspired Carl’s political career. It was a way to tangibly give back to his community by finding collaborative and collective solutions to complex social problems.

Having witnessed firsthand how lived traumatic experiences–often from childhood–trap individuals into cycles of socioeconomic strain, Carl spent much of his 2010-2018 tenure as a Welland city councillor using his collective problem-solving approach to compel community partners, local charities, multi-tiered governments, regional colleges and universities, investors, donors and developers to help solve the multifaceted aspects of homelessness, such as mental illness and opioid addiction.

He served as a board member of the North Welland Business Improvement Area and co-chairperson of Safe Communities Welland, where he worked with residents to make the city the safest place to live, work and play. Carl also helped create the Town & Gown Committee to develop and enhance relationships, communications, and policies among the local college, its students, the City, police, and the community.

In 2018, Carl helped secure $8 million in federal funding for two Niagara Peninsula Aboriginal Area Management Board projects, which provide skills and job training to 150 Indigenous youth.

The empathy of his professors at Niagara College inspired him to persevere through the disadvantages of his disability and dedicate his career to philanthropic organizations, and it was NC’s wholistic approach to accommodating his unique learning needs that motivated Carl to get involved locally to help communally revamp social and affordable housing.

And Carl is giving back to Niagara College, too.

Over the last five years, he has been a strong supporter of the College’s Community Integration through Cooperative Education (CICE) program, which enhances employability for students with disabilities.

To date, 20 college-aged students with significant learning challenges have completed their field placements at Habitat ReStore locations throughout Niagara.

This story is part of a series featuring seven distinguished members of Niagara College’s alumni community, who have been nominated for Colleges Ontario’s prestigious 2023 Premier’s Awards.

Double your impact on Nov. 28 

The NC community has a chance to support students in need on Giving Tuesday.

Held on November 28, Giving Tuesday is the world’s largest generosity movement that encourages people to do good and celebrate giving.

At Niagara College, Giving Tuesday focuses on supporting students. Over the past three years, the NC community has collectively contributed more than $30,000 on Giving Tuesday to the Nourishing Minds fund.

This year, the first $10,000 donated to the Nourishing Minds fund on Giving Tuesday  will be matched by an anonymous community partner giving donors a chance to double their impact!

“Every student deserves to have a warm meal and basic essentials at the end of the day, and with support from our generous NC community, we can address food insecurity across our Niagara College campuses with confidence and resilience,” said Emily O’Connor, Development Officer.

On November 28, NC aims to raise more than $12,000 which will purchase 240 gift cards and help 240 students through Nourishing Minds. Since its inception, Nourishing Minds has issued over 8,200 grocery gift cards allowing students to purchase food, toiletries and other life essentials.  In addition to gift cards, NCSAC also hosts the Rise & Shine program on both campuses on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s, to provide breakfast items like yogurt, granola bars and juice to students on their way to class.

Donate

For info or to donate visit:

donate.niagaracollege.ca/givingtuesday/.

Jason Ofield–one of Canada’s next-gen retail leaders–is quick to tell you that studying Business at Niagara College was a big factor in fueling his future career success.

But before he set foot on any campus, Ofield had other aspirations: The talented junior hockey player dreamed of becoming a pro–until the time, at a hockey camp for young prospects, NHL superstar Erik Lindros walked into the room. He remembers the moment well.

“When he sat down, the whole bench moved,” Ofield says. “These guys were so big, so incredibly good. I weighed 150 pounds soaking wet. By the end of the week, I knew the dream was over.”

Ofield set his sights on a career with Bulk Barn Foods Ltd, the grocery chain his grandfather started from a single store more than 40 years ago.

To develop his business skills, Ofield enrolled in Niagara College’s Business, Sales & Marketing program. Nights and weekends he worked at a local Bulk Barn store, learning front-line operations in real time. But in class he soaked up everything from strategic planning to consumer behaviour and new venture development.

“Niagara fosters a very specific culture with students, a culture in which you feel comfortable, that allows you to thrive, feel you’re part of something,” says Ofield, whose diploma now hangs proudly in his office. “I knew instantly this was going to be the start of something big for me.”

After graduating in 2006, Ofield spent the next decade working in every department of the company, analyzing processes, meeting employees, absorbing the business plan, and scrutinizing the logistics in stores where customers scoop their own bulk foods from aisles lined with bins and containers.

By 2015 he led a rebranding project to raise Bulk Barn’s appeal and relevance for a broader scope of demographics in a fast-changing, competitive market.

Whatever file he was working on at any time, Ofield knew he had to go the extra mile.

“I needed to show that I deserved to have my job,” he says. “As someone who was third-generation in the family business, I didn’t want people thinking I was there just because I had the name.”

Ofield’s business and leadership skills grew. In 2018, he was appointed President and CEO. Then within 18 months, the entire retail sector got hammered by a stunning crisis that nobody saw coming.

When COVID-19 swept the world in 2020, lockdowns meant that streets were abruptly empty, stores went dark, and commerce was devastated. Canadian retail sales suffered their biggest collapse ever.

Bulk Barns are self-serve operations where shoppers touch the same scoops to serve themselves. With people terrified about contracting the new virus, that business model couldn’t continue. Suddenly the livelihoods of thousands of employees and 275 stores were in jeopardy.

“That was the toughest part, for myself as a leader and for the Bulk Barn brand,” Ofield says. “We didn’t have a pandemic guidebook to turn to, but closing our doors was not an option. Our stores always operated on the self-serve model. Within two weeks of COVID-19 arriving, we realized that we needed to quickly pivot away from that model and figure out another solution.”

Ofield and his team worked 24/7. Within a week, Bulk Barn had online ordering and curbside service up and running, as well as safe in-store shopping. Staff members would be assigned to accompany shoppers and scoop product into their bags. Everyone stayed masked and distanced to protect customers and staff alike.

There were hiccups: It was costly to operate and employees had to learn on the run. But it worked. It saved Bulk Barn and the jobs that supported thousands of Canadian households.

Ofield also credits Niagara College for inspiring the idea behind what he calls “his proudest moment”: launching a reusable container program that empowers shoppers to help protect the environment just by getting their groceries.

As a millennial concerned about the environment, Ofield established “Bring your own container @Bulkbarn”–an initiative where customers can use their own clean reusable containers.

Initially the concept encountered pushback from store managers and others within the company, who worried about hygiene and logistical challenges. But there was also support for the nature of the effort, and Ofield got to work finding solutions for every potential obstacle that was raised.

In 2017, Bulk Barn rolled out the Canadian grocery industry’s first reusable container program. It slowly gained momentum, especially resonating with younger customers who are more passionate about sustainability.

Today more than a million waste-free transactions take place in Bulk Barn stores across Canada every year.

“We empowered consumers to make a difference,” Ofield says with pride, “and they got onside.

“It takes many people to make it work, but its impact continues to grow, and it’s an important impact.”

This story is part of a series featuring seven distinguished members of Niagara College’s alumni community, who have been nominated for Colleges Ontario’s prestigious 2023 Premier’s Awards.

For more than 15 years, Christine White has not only exceled as a leader in the automotive sector, she’s revolutionized how Chrysler technicians across the United States stay on top of the cutting-edge knowledge that’s vital in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

White, who’s been nominated for a 2023 Premier’s Award in the Apprenticeship category, graduated from Niagara College in 2006 with her Automotive Qualifications Certificate, and has gone on to become the lead technical training instructor for Stellantis, the Dutch-based parent company of Chrysler.

It was a career path that fit perfectly with White’s fascination with cars. While in high school, she attended a Niagara College open house and was drawn to the automotive apprenticeship program. Three years and 9,000 hours of apprenticeship work later, she achieved her certificate and also passed her Red Seal certification–an internationally recognized credential that set her apart from others when she moved to the U.S. several years later.

White left NC and began a career that grew steadily as she applied her knowledge at ever-larger Canadian and U.S. car dealerships.

In 2019, she was recruited by Stellantis to oversee operations at its New York City-area training centre and coordinate training seminars for 1,200 technicians across the New York City area and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.

Then COVID-19 brought in-person teaching at the training center to a halt, despite dealerships still urgently needing training support for servicing new models.
“It’s amazing how much the technology and makeup of cars has changed in 20 years,” White said. “There are more electrical modules in today’s vehicles than in the average house, but we couldn’t teach basic classes in person, and we needed to make training available.”

To offer basic support during lockdown, White recorded a couple of training videos that were accessible online. She had excellent public speaking and photography skills–all self-taught years earlier–and she put them to work to learn how to shoot her own videos.

“I had a leg up because I’d already adapted to videos,” she said. “I knew how to light a camera, ask questions effectively, explain things verbally and visually.”

That training format was supposed to be a temporary solution, but it ultimately transformed how Chrysler keeps its army of staff up with ever-evolving technology.

Today, a library of more than 150 short instructional videos written, illustrated, produced and narrated by White are accessible to 22,000 Chrysler technicians across the U.S.

White says her Niagara College instructors instilled not just knowledge but a passion for excellence. She implores her technicians or students to constantly demand high standards with their skills, too.

“I’m a huge proponent of Colleges Ontario holding people to a national standard,” she says. “I try to share my passion and encourage technicians to take pride in their work. If they take pride in their work, it shows they care, the work gets done right the first time. It makes them feel good, makes the dealership look good, everyone is happy.”

This story is part of a series featuring seven distinguished members of Niagara College’s alumni community, who have been nominated for Colleges Ontario’s prestigious 2023 Premier’s Awards.