Noted for disruptive thinking and a willingness to challenge the status quo, Mark served for almost five years as the first Associate Vice-President, Alumni at the University of Calgary.

Building on leadership roles in planning within various institutions, he led the creation of, and delivered on, the institution’s much-lauded first Alumni Strategy, which set the university as one of the most forward-thinking and performance-driven operations in the field of alumni engagement.

Previously, at The University of British Columbia (UBC), Mark served for three years as the project manager for Canada’s leading alumni facility, the $20 million UBC Alumni Centre, while working as the Senior Director, Operations and Planning; and Interim Associate Vice-President Alumni and Executive Director, Alumni Association, for UBC Alumni.

With a considered approach, and an ability to execute with focus, agility, and collegially, his post-secondary experiences also cover media relations; student leadership; finance; major project management; as well as serving as strategic counsel to higher education executives.

Mark served on the CASE Commission on Alumni Relations from 2013-16 and the CASE District VIII Board from 2014-16. A frequent presenter in North America and internationally, he has worked closely with institutions and colleagues across Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US in the areas of performance management, planning and organizational development.

With significant experience within CASE and the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE), other professional roles include successes in two major Canadian political campaigns, serving as a caucus chief of staff, and working as a VP Advancement in Scotland.

A proud graduate of Mount Royal (Calgary) with a Bachelor of Applied Communications (Journalism), Mark’s consultant practice focuses on performance management and metrics, development and implementation of business tools, strategy development and planning, and stakeholder marketing and communications.

I have more than 20 years of experience in communications and community engagement across the arts, business and post-secondary education sectors in five major Canadian and U.S. markets. In the last 15 years, I’ve focused on communications, marketing and alumni engagement with several universities (including the University of Toronto and University of Calgary) as a staff member and consultant.

My work has earned numerous awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE); I chaired the CASE District VIII Communication Awards program and served on the District VIII board of directors from 2008 to 2012.

I’ve worked closely with Mark Sollis since 2012, supporting clients in higher education in North America, Europe and Australia. These projects have included:

• benchmarking research across the advancement spectrum relevant to each institution’s needs and criteria;
• contributing to multi-year alumni strategies;
• developing communications and program plans, and
• writing white papers to influence senior university leaders.

I live with my wife, daughter and son, and black lab in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Methodological Senior Data Analyst (15+ years of modelling, statistical analysis, and research experience) with strong attention to detail who understands, analyses and correctly combines complex information to create the data visualisations and reporting tools needed to help make smart institutional data-driven decisions.

I conduct data mining, data modelling, statistical analysis, business intelligence gathering, trending, benchmarking and research. Some of my accomplishments include:

• Improved data mining processes, resulting in 30% decrease in the time needed to infer insights from alumni data used to develop marketing strategies.
• Increased alumni data security by creating data visualization dashboards and reporting tools using Tableau Server technology.
• Developed all the methodologies (i.e., drafting the final questionnaire, creating a database to estimate a stratified random sample, programming the survey deployment, analysing the results including unstructured data, designing compelling visuals to highlight key findings, and writing and distributing the final report) needed to perform omnibus alumni surveys.
• Performed Break-Even, Sensitivity, Risk, Cost-Benefit, Statistical, Qualitative and Quantitative analyses for different government private agencies and research/education institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
• Published 10 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles.

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A passion for policy, as a means of offering new thinking to the status quo, drives me to bring a collaborative and analytical approach to my work. Having obtained a bachelor’s degree in Policy Studies from Mount Royal University, I chose this educational path because I was inspired to contribute creative and innovative solutions to emerging social issues. My degree and business experience have given me a deep appreciation ofthe need for responsible and effective policies in business, non-profit andgovernment sectors.

I provide project-based research and analytical support in the electric utility and post-secondary education sectors. This work has included regulatory and legislative research, economic analysis and building a key indicators dashboard for tracking individual and project success.