A message from Gregory Smith, Chief Information Officer
Colleagues,
I'm writing this afternoon with very difficult news. With shock and sadness, I need to announce that Cassie Bechard passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. Cassie was the IST Account Rep for the Faculty of Health and for the GSPA. Cassie came to Waterloo in September 2007 as an undergraduate student. Cassie worked for the Arts Computing Office, for three of their co-op work terms, graduating in 2013 with a Bachelor of Mathematics (Honours Applied Mathematics). Immediately after Cassie’s graduation, they began working with IST.
As a department and an IT community, we rally around the people who worked most closely with Cassie, including their manager Lisa Tomalty, the entire IST Customer Relations and Support team, as well as the Faculty of Health and the GSPA.
Supporting you through this difficult, unexpected news is my top priority. In addition to the University’s Employee and Family Assistance Program, we have arranged for a dedicated clinician, Linda Behr, to be available. To access individual support please call Linda directly at 416-704-5475. Please introduce yourself as calling from the University of Waterloo. If you prefer a Zoom meeting instead of a telephone conversation, Linda will provide you with the meeting ID to join a Zoom session. If Linda is already on a call, please leave a voicemail with your name, phone number and the best time to call back. Please note that this is a direct line to Linda, and we ask that you only use this number during the hours noted above. The University’s ongoing EFAP program is available to offer you support on an ongoing basis.
I have spoken with Cassie’s mother and have expressed to her the condolences of the entire university community.
Sincerely,
Greg