Mount Saint Vincent University

Dalhousie University

Exploring New Opportunities

New Germany, Nova Scotia, Canada

Sound Good Studio

Writer, Producer, Strategist

Springtide builds educational programs and resources that support people who want to make public life more meaningful through their own participation in it.

I curated and created programming and resources at Springtide, while overseeing organizational operations.

Springtide

Executive Director & Founder

- Responsibilities: strategy development, project management, staff and volunteer management, policy development, advocacy, media and stakeholder relations.

- Achievement: successfully advocated for a suite of $18 million worth of improvements to the Nova Scotia Student Assistance program and the removal of discriminatory clauses from the Municipal Elections Act that limited unmarried students' voting rights while living away from their families.

- Achievement: Lead organizational growth initiatives resulting in the doubling of the organization’s budget, tripling of human resources capacity, rebranding and further professionalization.

- Learning Achievements: Developed the ability to work with politicians and civil servants, learned how to deliver a succinct message through hundreds of media interviews, developed strategies for organizing province-wide operations and campaigns, and facilitate board and stakeholder meetings.

Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations

Executive Director

- Responsibilities: research and development of academic policy proposals, supervision of student advocacy staff, media relations, relationship management with University officials and Government representatives, collaboration with provincial and national partner organizations, and membership on seven University and Union committees.

- Achievement: launched advocacy initiatives that resulted in the introduction of a fall study day, a co-curricular transcript/record for extracurricular activities and a more just process for hearings of students charged with academic offenses like plagiarism and cheating.

- Achievement: founded, fundraised for and organized an annual Speaker Series

- Learning Achievements: developed advocacy skills, confidence in chairing meetings and leading volunteer teams, public speaking and interview skills

Dalhousie Student Union

Vice-President (Education)

- Summer Responsibilities: worked on a team of five student technicians and two biologists to collect and process water samples for safety monitoring.

- Winter Responsibilities: worked as a researcher for the National Pollutant Release Inventory monitoring program.

Mark Coffin