Join us for this term's Alumni in the Hub event with a virtual twist! COVID-19's complications for students in co-op and graduating students (shout-out to the class of 2020) have proved to be immensely challenging. 'Alumni in the Hub: Exploring Careers During Challenging Times' offers the opportunity to speak with three distinguished alumni with valuable advice and experiences to share. Hailing from the graduating classes of 2008 and 2009, our alumni entered a job market like no other, in the midst of a Canadian economic crisis. We hope that their insight will aid students in facing such challenges they are facing today.
We welcome you to register and join us for an exciting panel and Q&A session shortly after.
Our featured alumni, at a glance:
Joanna Woo is a Certified Human Resources Leader and the Director of People and Culture at Shinydocs Corporation. Graduating from UWaterloo in 2009 studying Psychology with a specialization in HRM, Joanna has spent her career transforming HR within the tech industry by applying software design and development principles to traditional HR practices. In her free time, she enjoys training for the zombie apocalypse and is an avid board gamer.
Her advice to students is that failure is inevitable. The sooner you learn how to recover from failure, the more rewarding your career will be.
David Tubbs has been ingrained in the Kitchener-Waterloo business community for more than a decade with communications and marketing experience in both the non-profit and tech sectors. David has been the Associate Director, Executive Communications at the University of Waterloo since 2017 working directly with the university’s senior leadership. Prior to his joining the University of Waterloo, David spent nearly 5 years at the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce helping businesses connect and grow with one another and 4 years serving in digital marketing roles in the tech sector.
Outside of work, David enjoys running, writing, traveling, and spending time with his young family. David is also an active Director with both Junior Achievement Waterloo Region and the Business and Education Partnership of Waterloo Region.
My advice to current students? Do more than what’s expected. In everything you do from now on and moving forward should be centred around not just doing what you are told you need to do, but going beyond that. This means bringing your ideas to the table, creating something you are passionate about, and reaching out to others who may be able to give you a helping hand. Your education and degree gets you in the door but it will be your personality, experiences and drive that lands you that next opportunity.
Jonathan Morbey is currently a Manager within the Investment Risk Group at CPPI (Canada Pension Plan Investments). His responsibilities include; oversight of the External Portfolio Management Strategy (various external “hedge funds”), firmwide Stress testing as well as Geopolitical commentary. He is the secretary of the S.A.W.G .(Scenario Analysis Working Group), which is a cross-departmental team that looks at emerging and topical stress scenarios and their potential multi-dimensional (investment, operational, legal, regulatory, reputational) impacts. He has been with CPPI for almost twelve years, mainly working in Risk but also within Structured Products, P&L and Public Markets Finance.