Headquarters:

Executive House, 275 Ontario St., 3rd Floor, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7K 2X5

Year founded:

1937

Number of employees:

12–14

Phone:

1 888 858 7838

Email:

irc@queensu.ca

Website:

irc.queensu.ca

LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/company/queens-university-irc

“What sets IRC apart? Quite simply, it’s our commitment to creating, evaluating, and adapting engaging programs that give our participants the training they need to succeed in a rapidly changing environment”

Alison Darling, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY – INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CENTRE

Alison Darling

Director, Professional Programs

Stephanie Fischkohl

Manager, Operations

John Bent

President, Human Capital Development Group (Authorized Crestcom Licensee)

Leadership

Alison Darling is the director of professional programs at Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre (IRC), where she leads the strategic direction of the Centre. She is a long-time Queen’s University employee and has a demonstrated history of successfully leading teams within the higher education sector. Her expertise lies in the areas of cross-cultural leadership, maximizing operational effectiveness, training delivery, management of multinational teams, coaching, and teaching. Darling is also a strong business development professional who is passionate about leading with compassion and prioritizing team well-being. She holds an Executive MBA from Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

Director, Professional Programs

Alison Darling

Stephanie Fischkohl is currently the manager of operations at Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre. Before joining Queen’s IRC, she held other management positions in the private sector and internally at Queen’s University since 2004. She is responsible for growing business operations, recruitment and selection, financial modelling, labour management and engagement, and program development. She opens the lines of communication between clients, customers, and team members to achieve objectives and new initiatives. Fischkohl is a graduate of the Business Administration program at St. Lawrence College. She is pursuing her Professional Master of Industrial Relations from Queen’s University.

Manager, Operations

Stephanie Fischkohl

With more than 30 years of experience in leadership, John Bent’s career encompassed executive leadership positions within multinational corporations and numerous local and international entrepreneurial ventures. Recognized as a highly impactful, result-focused leader with a gift of inspiring those around him to reach greatness, he lives by the motto, “I would rather get it right than be right”. Bent attributes his success to always including and elevating those around him. He is a certified performance coach, training and development specialist, public speaker, CEO peer group chair, and Crestcom Executive Licensee.

President Human Capital Development Group (Authorized Crestcom Licensee)

John Bent

Alison Darling, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre

“Evidence of continuing success is found in our 96% approval rate and accolades from established and new clients”

Alison Darling, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre

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“Evidence of continuing success is found in our 96% approval rate and accolades from established and new clients”

Alison Darling, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre

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Ken Strilchuk

Managing Partner, MTM Consulting Group (Authorized Crestcom Licensee)

Ken Strilchuk is the founder of MTM Consulting Group, a company specializing in leadership and employee development training. Since 1997, he and his team have facilitated leadership courses for employees, supervisors, managers, and executives in companies ranging in size from 20 to 800 employees, along with national and international firms that have thousands of employees. With over 5,000 people trained, his teaching expertise combined with 18 years of corporate management knowledge, Strilchuk has been able to transfer proven management principles into practical applications, tools, processes, and systems to GROW! leaders and their teams to their full potential.

Managing Partner MTM Consulting Group (Authorized Crestcom Licensee)

Ken Strilchuk

Shannon Leblanc

Strategic Initiatives Officer

Shannon Leblanc joined HRHSE in 2022 as strategic initiatives officer. She is responsible for leading and supporting departmental strategic initiatives and coordinating departmental processes and governance items. She co-chaired the working group that developed the culture of care and co-chairs the implementation team. Leblanc holds an MSc from the U of A and a Project Leadership Certificate from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Prior to joining HRHSE, Leblanc worked in a program leadership role within Facilities and Operations at the U of A. She is passionate about bringing positive change to the organization and is delighted to contribute to the culture of care.

Strategic Initiatives Officer

Shannon Leblanc

For over 85 years, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (IRC) has been building better leaders through professional development programs for human resources, labour relations, and organizational development professionals. Over that time, more than 16,300 participants have enrolled in the programs, considered among the most prestigious in the people management field. Backed by Queen’s University’s international reputation for excellence, the IRC’s culture of evidence-based, experiential learning facilitates exploration and enables participants to test new ideas and theories in a safe and collaborative environment. Its award-winning programs feature case studies and simulations, giving participants outstanding opportunities to practice new skills and focus on specific workplace challenges. “What sets IRC apart? Quite simply, it’s our commitment to creating, evaluating, and adapting engaging programs that give our participants the training they need to succeed in a rapidly changing environment,” explains Alison Darling, director of professional programs. As the IRC’s leader, Darling is updating and introducing programs to address current HR, labour relations, and organizational development challenges and opportunities. She and the IRC team are also building partnerships with organizations across Canada, such as IPMA, chambers of commerce, and CPHR organizations. “Evidence of continuing success is found in our 96% approval rate and accolades from established and new clients,” Darling notes.

“Evidence of continuing success is found in our 96% approval rate and accolades from established and new clients”

Alison Darling, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre

Danny Mah

Faculty Safety Officer

Greg Hodgson

Occupational Hygienist

Rhonda English

Chief Marketing Officer

Evelyn Peng

Chief Risk Officer

Danny Mah joined the U of A in 2011 and has worked in a number of roles, most recently as a faculty safety officer. Currently, Mah leads incident investigations and tackles all kinds of workplace-related safety challenges. He views the culture of care initiative as an opportunity to enhance safety practices university-wide. His familiarity with researchers, staff, and students across the university makes him a key contributor to the project. Before joining the U of A, he worked with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety for 23 years, including as a lead investigator for the Serious Injuries and Fatalities Unit.

Faculty Safety Officer

Danny Mah

Greg Hodgson joined human resources, health, safety and environment as occupational hygienist at the University in 2016. In this role, he provides expert advice and guidance to protect employees’ health in the workplace. Hodgson was one of the initial authors on an internal report about the U of A’s safety culture, which led to his involvement in the planning, drafting, and implementation of the culture of care. He has an MSc in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Alberta. He is also a Certified Industrial Hygienist and a Canadian Registered Safety Professional.

Occupational Hygienist

Greg Hodgson

Rhonda English is a CPA, CMA and obtained her Honors Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and her MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario. Rhonda joined CM Club Group as vice president of insurance, then took the role of vice president corporate marketing, overseeing business insights & analytics and the acquisition and retention of the CM lines of business. In 2016, she was named chief marketing officer, taking on additional responsibility for travel and membership product, digital, and the government & community relations advocacy team.

Chief Marketing Officer

Rhonda English

Evelyn Peng started at CCG in 2017 as director of risk management and now serves as the chief risk officer for the organization. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and a Master’s in Accounting from the University of Waterloo. She has extensive experience with enterprise risk management, specializing in operational risk management, and financial risk management. Evelyn is a Chartered Accountant and a Financial Risk Manager.

Chief Risk Officer

Evelyn Peng

Chief Risk Officer

Evelyn Peng

Chief Risk Officer

Evelyn Peng

Sarah M Stewart

Associate Vice President, Leasing and Call Centre Operations

Karen Bannister, CM

Vice President, Marketing

Dave Longbottom

Chief Technology Officer

Alex Ventura

Head of Marketing

Damian Palovick

Senior Vice President of Underwriting AXA XL – Delegated Authority Programs, North America

Dr. Mary Lavoie

Head of Risk Management and Senior Vice President AXA XL – Delegated Authority Programs, North America

Mark Bernacki

Chief Underwriting Officer

Ryan Armijo

Chief Operating Officer, Underwriting Division

Bob Petrilli

President, Underwriting Division

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Earlene Huntley

Group Chief Financial Officer

Melissa Abramowitz

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer

Melissa Abramowitz has been practicing corporate and commercial law for over 20 years, with an emphasis on the financial services industry. She joined CAA Club Group in 2014, and currently serves as the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer of CCG and its affiliated companies. At CCG, Melissa provides strategic legal advice on a broad range of matters including corporate governance, licensing, distribution, marketing and advertising, commercial contracts and regulatory compliance. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (B.CL) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from McGill University and a Certificate in Regulatory Compliance for Financial Institutions from Osgoode.

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer

Melissa Abramowitz

Earlene Huntley joined CAA in 2014 as director, tax and was promoted to AVP, tax in 2016, and to her current role as group chief financial officer of CAA Club Group in February 2017. In her role, she is responsible for all aspects of finance. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies where she earned her BSc. Accounting (Hons) and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom.

Group Chief Financial Officer

Earlene Huntley

Simon Williams

Chief Strategy & Distribution Officer, Arch Insurance International and Active Underwriter, Syndicate 1955

Simon Williams

Chief Strategy & Distribution Officer, Arch Insurance International and Active Underwriter, Syndicate 1955

Group Chief Financial Officer

Earlene Huntley

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer

Melissa Abramowitz

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer

Earlene Huntley

Group Chief Financial Officer

Earlene Huntley

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer

Melissa Abramowitz

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irc@queensu.ca

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The IRC’s 21 programs feature:

hands-on learning, with simulations and case studies that inspire and offer participants valuable opportunities to test theories and practice new skills an experiential approach that includes team exercises and one-on-one mentoring from industry professionals custom programs that give organizations the tools to attract and retain top talent by designing curricula that address specific organizational challenges and bring teams together to collaborate on new ideas and strategies

The pandemic, technology, and a generational transition have impacted work practices and culture over the past few years. Queen’s IRC has responded to these challenges on several levels:

continuing to evaluate and adapt programs launching a virtual classroom in-person and virtual training options provided in select cities across Canada, including on-site training for custom programs

With the guidance of industry leaders and custom resources, the IRC aims to exceed clients’ expectations. Its facilitators conduct thorough HR trend research to develop unique toolkits. It is increasingly important for organizations to prioritize workplace diversity and foster inclusive cultures. As HR leaders, the IRC is aware of and sensitive to the needs of all employees, ensuring a positive and engaged work environment.