BA '82, Recreation and Business
CURRENTLY: Senior Manager, Partner Development, PwC, Toronto
If you had told young Nancy Bruce her career would take her to some of Canada’s top corporations, she probably wouldn’t have believed you.
“I was fairly sporty when I was young, and also quite people-oriented,” she says. “When I started looking at universities, I was trying to decide between social work and phys-ed; I don’t think business really entered the picture.”
But she also knew, from long, satisfying stints of volunteer work, extra-curriculars and student politics, that what she loved best was helping people. So when Nancy found Waterloo’s Recreation program, it seemed to offer the balance she wanted between physical activity and working with different populations. She signed up for the Business specialization almost as an afterthought.
“I ended up loving it, especially the courses about organizational behaviour,” she says. “Combined with the leadership development piece I was learning through my volunteer work with the Recreation Activity Council, I felt I was really zeroing in on my own particular niche.”
Nancy began her post-Waterloo career at Seneca College, where she started as a student government advisor. Twelve years (and two kids) later, Nancy had moved into several increasingly senior roles, earned a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Toronto, and was chairing Seneca’s Business Studies program in the Faculty of Continuing Education.
Curiosity about career opportunities outside the post-secondary sector then led her to take a job with RBC Financial Group, in its internal learning centre. From there, she moved first to KPMG and then to PwC, where she now serves as Senior Manager of Partner Development.
Through it all, Nancy has relied on lessons learned at Waterloo, particularly the importance of building relationships, the ability to find creative solutions to almost any problem, and – perhaps most importantly – the importance of lifelong learning.
“We applied-health grads never lose the power of what we learned at Waterloo – we just continue to build on it. It’s still a valuable degree with huge potential. I’m very proud to be a Waterloo alumna.”
