Report to the Community

Jyoti Gondek was sworn in as Calgary's 37th mayor and the first woman to be elected to this role on October 25, 2021. Prior to being elected as mayor, she served as city councillor for Ward 3 from 2017 to 2021. She holds a Ph.D. in urban sociology, and an M.A. in organizational sociology. 
 
Throughout her career, Mayor Gondek has taken a big picture approach to pressing challenges. Often, she has found processes and policies exist simply because they have never been questioned. She has come to understand that by probing and chipping away at issues, we move forward with improvements that have meaning in our everyday lives.  
 
Mayor Gondek’s professional background includes leading the Westman Centre for Real Estate Studies at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business where she examined the challenges facing Calgary’s commercial sector as property values in the core plummeted. She knew then that this issue would be a big one for Calgary. She also ran a successful consulting practice for 12 years helping clients in the energy and city-building sectors evolve their business models to fit a changing regulatory and economic environment. 

Navin leads a national team of more than 5,500 team members and is accountable for the end-to-end multi-billion dollar B2B portfolio nationally, including sales, marketing, product development, customer experience, strategy and operations for all TELUS business customers across Canada. As part of his national portfolio, he oversees all customer segments, including Enterprise, Large, and Small & Medium Business, as well as our Employer, Partner and Health Benefits Management teams. He also supports GoCo, one of Canada’s leading managed service providers, as well as several market-leading companies that are part of the TELUS family, including FOCUS, SkyHawk Telematics, Intello and Fully Managed.

From local small businesses and tech startups, to medium-sized manufacturers, large national businesses and public sector agencies, Navin and his team are working with thousands of organizations of every size across Canada to reimagine the way technology can be used to thrive in a digital world. Under his leadership, the team is providing world-leading technology capabilities, ranging from 5G and fibre network connectivity, collaboration, security, IoT, data analytics, and virtual care solutions that power the digital workplace of the future.

Since joining TELUS in 1999, Navin has held senior leadership roles with increasing responsibility across various parts of the organization, including Business Solutions, Partner Solutions, Consumer, and Technology and Operations. He’s played a crucial role in steering some of TELUS’ most successful market growth and service innovation strategies, and has guided several transformations that have driven industry leading business growth, customer loyalty and operational excellence.

Navin has grown up in Alberta, and lives in Calgary with his wife and two daughters. As a strong supporter of his local community and TELUS’ commitment to give where we live, he is actively involved in various causes across the province as well as the local South Asian community. He proudly serves as Vice Chair of TELUS’ Calgary Community board, in addition to serving as a member of the board of Calgary Economic Development and the Sandbox Project, which aims to improve the health of children in Canada and across the world. He is also a member of the Business Council of Alberta.

Sarah Meilleur is the CEO of Calgary Public Library. She led the design thinking, completion and launch of Calgary’s new Central Library that has seen over three million visitors since opening in November 2018. Sarah is a recognized speaker at international conferences, has authored numerous journal articles, and has lectured at Harvard University on library design. She believes in supporting the community through volunteering and has served as the vice-chair for the Calgary Heritage Authority, on the Cultural Leadership Council and the Social Wellbeing Advisory Committee. She was also the recipient of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 award in 2011. Sarah is passionate about the ways in which public libraries transform lives and she works to foster curiosity, innovation, inclusion, and fantastic visitor experiences.

With over two decades of marketing leadership experience across industries that span public, private, start up and not for profit organizations, Brad has a demonstrated history of building data-centric organizational cultures focused on growing revenue, spearheading digital & technology transformation, and driving innovation. A passionate, strategic and analytical thinker with a penchant for getting things done, Brad has led and acted as a key advisor to small, medium and large scale operations in the fields of media, technology, advertising and Artificial Intelligence as well as several board of director positions including Board Advisor & Marketing Lead for Data for Good, a national volunteer organization that brings together leading data experts and enthusiasts with high impact social organizations.

Gillian is a visitor in Treaty 7 Territory, Region 3 of the Métis Nation in Alberta, in Calgary with her partner and two young children. As a settler, she is doing the work to listen, learn, reflect, and act in Reconciliation, in her role as the Director of Reconciliation, Inclusion and Strategy at Rise Consulting. She lives her commitment to advancing an equitable and inclusive society for all equity-deserving groups, serving as the President for Ask Her YYC, and as a coach for Fora's Young Women on Boards program. Gillian is also an instructor at MRU, amplifying dialogue about inclusive workplaces with university students.  

Allison Dunne is a Black arts and culture advocate dedicated to facilitating QTBIPOC programming.

She is founder of Pink Flamingo: a queer, Black-led organization based in Calgary, Alberta. Their initiatives have given the community access to equity-based funds that promote authenticity, culture and the expression of self. Allison is a member of BLAC and contributes to many conferences, learning programs and activist initiatives.

Allison is always looking for new and holistic ways of disseminating information of anti-racism, inclusion and equity with compassion, intentionality and purpose.

Spirit River Striped Wolf is from the Piikani Nation which helps make up the Blackfoot Confederacy. His Blackfoot name is Iyimakoyiomahka which describes an enduring running wolf. He currently attends Mount Royal University undertaking his BA in Policy Studies. Spirit River is finishing his term as President for the Students’ Association of Mount Royal University. He was first elected in February 2020 and re-elected in 2021 for one year terms, and is now currently in the process of transitioning the new president into the office for the start of May. In his role, he focused on developing meaningful relationships with key stakeholders, communicating the needs of Mount Royal University students to the university and the faculty association during their formal mediation process, and to help the campus community traverse through COVID-19. He is looking forward to being a regular student once again.

Tara currently works as Chief Culture Officer for Foundation Automotive. She has been learning how to help leaders build and sustain high-performing teams through compassionate leadership for over 12 years and continues to develop and grow through experience. Tara also spent over two decades in broadcasting and recently got her foot back in the door with QR77 radio's CalgaryNEXT show on Saturdays, profiling innovative companies that choose to call Calgary home.