THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Guelph’s hotel and food administration program, she’s been interested in the area of consumer insight. “I was interested in why people think a certain way about brands, how to create the impression of a brand and how to encourage people to think positively about a product or brand,” she says. Woods says keeping her finger on the pulse of the needs and wants of the con-
Brenda Woods
sumer is important in the competitive field of marketing and branding. So is planning ahead and anticipating change. “Changes in the marketplace bring opportunity, but they also pose the biggest challenges,” she says.
Don’t forget the children v e r t h e pa s t 25 years, Dirk Booy, ADA ’78 and MA ’88, has worked to evoke change and improve the lives of children throughout the developing world, from a mud-stick hut in rural Sierra Leone to his current office at World Vision Canada, where he now serves as the organization’s executive vice-president. In this role, he’s responsible for develop-
O
Dirk Booy
ing strategic priorities, deciding on resource allocation, handling government relations and overseeing multi-million dollar global investments.Yet, one of his biggest challenges is helping individual Canadians understand the scope of the situation. “What we do and how we lead our lives here has an impact on people around the world and on their ability to live a good life,” he says. To resolve the global food crisis, for example, he advises us to first make sure that our own daily practices have a positive impact on the food situation in the world and says we should call our government to account to ensure that Canada maintains its commitments to international aid. “It is about global change to ensure that fair and free trade exist. It is about ensuring that in our drive to find alternative energy sources, we don’t starve people in the process. In the end, it is about justice.”
BY REBECCA KENDALL
hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.” As executive director of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, Audrey Jamal, BA ’98, reads the hopes, aspirations and pride of those who built U of G’s hometown. “People often look to the downtown as an indicator of a community’s health, and I think if we’re serious about protecting the environment we need to be able to attract intensification, investors and business downtown,” says Jamal. “We also have to grow in a way that’s denser and more sustainable, and begin to grow our city up, rather than out.” Jamal says she cultivated a real understanding of where the needs lie in a community when she was a student at Guelph. After graduation, she worked as an advocate for people with disabilities at Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Hospital in Toronto and later with the Canadian Arab Federation, where she advocated for Mahar Arar and his wife, Monia Mazigh. Stepping back from some of the rigors of federal advocacy work, Jamal returned to Guelph with her family.“I was excited to start this new chapter in my life and career because I saw there was room to effect change on the municipal level and to build stronger relationships between government and business.” ■ Audrey Jamal
There’s a great future downtown
A
m e r i c a n a rc h i t e c t , Hugh Newell Jacobsen once said: “When you look at a city, it’s like reading the
alumni will stimulate a discussion or two. We also think you’ll want to read The Portico online version: www.uoguelph.ca/theportico. Winter 2009 25