After 17 years of leading George Brown College (GBC), today is Anne Sado’s last day. Since 2004, Sado has led the college through a period of strong growth, nearly doubling enrollment capacity and facilitating partnerships with community members throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). As her retirement date approaches sooner, she reflects on her years at GBC in a recent interview with The Dialog.
“I’ve loved every moment at George Brown. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together. I can’t believe how quickly 17 and a half years have gone by and I know I’ll miss the college and our community greatly,” says Sado.
After 25 years working at Bell Canada, Sado became GBC’s first female president in 2004. When asked what originally drew her to the role, Sado said, “it was the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives through education.”
In her 17 years at GBC, Sado helped facilitate the development of a state-of-the-art campus on the Toronto Waterfront, which included a new School of Design facility, the Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences, and the college’s first student residence, The George. Moreover, Sado also led in the transformation of the St. James and Casa Loma campuses, with the addition of the Chef’s House on King Street and the Green Building Centre at Casa Loma.
“I’m proud of how we’ve grown and how we’ve evolved to impact our community. When we developed our first building at the Waterfront Campus – we helped create the momentum the city needed for the redevelopment of the Waterfront in general, and specifically the east Bayfront,” says Sado.
“I’m proud of how our Waterfront campus has evolved – including the opening of our residence, the School of Design at Daniels City of the Arts – and soon the Arbour – a tall wood, mass timber building that will show how we can contribute to improving our environmental footprint.”
Named one of Canada’s most powerful women four times, Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence, and inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame, Sado has been recognized for her leadership on numerous occasions. She is a former recipient of the Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) Presidents’ Leadership Network Distinguished Service Award, along with being granted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Toronto in 2011.
When asked how she measures her own success, however, Sado says that for her, it is “knowing that she made a difference.”
“Knowing that I made a difference; that I did good work for the right reasons, and that I did that work with honesty, openness and integrity. I measure success through tangible achievements – but even more so through people and the relationships I’ve developed.”
Whether it be in building experiential learning opportunities through a career-focused lens or applied research programs from the ground up, Sado has continuously found ways to create new and dynamic learning opportunities for students at GBC. In her tenure, she has helped the college collect over 85 million dollars in research funds, work with over 1600 industry and community partners, and enable over 15,000 student research experiences.
“George Brown is described as being woven into the cultural, social and economic fabric of the City of Toronto – and we made opportunities happen in so many ways,” says Sado.
The external partnerships Sado helped facilitate over the years have not stopped her from being actively present in student life. Sado says that “she loved every opportunity to interface with students – especially in moments where they were presenting, performing, or celebrating achievements”.
Some of her favourite memories include attending student theatre performances, year-end fashion, jewelry, and design shows, watching the Enactus George Brown students compete, visiting The Chef’s House, and taking part in the annual International Charrette with The Institute without Boundaries (IwB) students.
“As I mentioned, the list could go on and on,” says Sado. “Convocation week was always my favourite time of the year – because there was so much pride and celebration of accomplishment.”
While Sado says that she will miss the faculty, staff, students, industry partners, volunteers, members of the community the most, she says she is “looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends, travelling, continuing my volunteer efforts, and most importantly – having more flexibility with my schedule”.
Dr. Gervon Fearon will become GBC’s new president as of August 2021.
“Dr. Fearon has a wonderful background and depth of experience leading post-secondary institutions and I have no doubt that he will be a wonderful leader at George Brown,” said Sado.
“I believe George Brown is an excellent college that has great prospects for the future. This is a time of great change – and the college will have to ensure we change to continue to be relevant to our students and those who hire our graduates. I think we’ve built a number of solid foundations to enable us to continue to lead.”
