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< PreviousWhen SAIT School of Health and Public Safety employees Jennifer Stefura and Meredith Patey launched their careers as respiratory therapists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the hierarchy among doctors and other medical team professionals was always respected. Although speaking up as a subordinate wasn’t openly discouraged, it also wasn’t openly encouraged — even when patient safety was a concern. “I remember being in situations as clinicians where we knew something wasn’t right, but we didn’t have the words to be able to express, respectfully and professionally, how we were feeling at that moment,” explains Patey, a Respiratory Therapy (RT) practicum instructor. Speaking up and speaking out SAIT RESPIRATORY THERAPY EXPERTS SHARE RESEARCH-BASED SKILLS FOR BEING AN ADVOCATE WHEN IT MATTERS MOST. TEXT BY ASHLEY NAUD 8 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK PRO TIPSAnd Stefura — a former RT instructor who is now the School’s Supervisor, Quality and Strategic Initiatives — agrees. “It’s different than it was 30 years ago, but there’s still risk associated with speaking up and that’s why people don’t do it,” Stefura says. Both Patey and Stefura say social norms and hierarchy are also barriers to systemic change in healthcare and beyond, something they confirmed through their 2021 research project, A Multi-Institution Longitudinal Randomised Control Trial of Speaking Up: Implications for Theory and Practice. Conducted in partnership with NAIT’s Efrem Violato, Research Associate with the Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation, and NAIT RT Program Chair Brian Witschen, the project’s goal was to help RT students speak up when the quality of patient care felt unsafe. “I knew in my heart what was right, and I wanted to be part of a study that was going to create some solid evidence to support that,” Patey says. Students were trained to use CUS, an evidence-based tool created by Team STEPPS (Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) at the US-based Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. It’s a communications framework that enables healthcare professionals who witness a medical error to express a concern (the “C” in CUS). If the situation continues, the next step is to describe being uncomfortable (the “U” in CUS) and then, if necessary, to identify the error as a safety issue (the “S” in CUS). The team found speaking up was most effectively integrated into a student’s understanding of patient care when an instructor or mentor was demonstrating the skill on a repeated basis. “We now see that it’s actually part of our job to speak up as part of patient advocacy, right? It’s what we need to do,” Stefura says. “We all need to look at the bigger picture and raise our discomfort when we’re seeing things that are concerning.” Take one step at a time It can be nerve-wracking or intimidating to speak up, especially if it’s a new concept. Patey and Stefura suggest starting small and practicing the skill in less stressful situations. Confidence comes with time and experience. Seek to understand When you disagree with a decision made by a colleague, manager or even in a personal relationship, seek to find out the other person’s perspective. Coming at it with curiosity over accusation opens up the opportunity for constructive conversation. Be calm and direct There’s strength in maintaining composure when speaking up. People are more likely to listen when you’re respectful and rational. Agree upon key words or a tool that makes sense to everybody If you have a good working or personal relationship, it can be helpful to develop a tool or set of words similar to the CUS tool. These are words that everyone agrees upon and will cue one another when you’re feeling concerned or unsure about a situation. 2 3 4 1 In their report, published in the Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy in 2024, Patey and Stefura write that, “Speaking up and challenging authority to address errors, advocate for patients and ensure professionalism is a necessary but difficult behaviour for all healthcare professionals at all levels of experience.” It’s also an important yet challenging skill in other areas of daily life: in the workplace, in relationships, in everyday social interactions. Patey and Stefura share four tips inspired by their research: 9 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK TEXT BY MICHELLE WOODARD | PHOTOS BY 2C MEDIA AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION 10 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK FEATURECRAIG SKAUGE Business Administration ’01 President and CEO, Olympia Trust Company Craig Skauge can trace his career in finance back to his first MP3 player. A lifelong hip-hop fan, he recognized the disruption the little handheld listening device would bring — and that pushed him away from taking a job offer in the music industry and toward accepting his father’s invitation to work in the family business. While his role with the Olympia Trust Company wasn’t as sexy as touring musicians around Calgary, Skauge’s business instincts soon started to home in on the importance of access to capital. “Money is the lifeblood of business,” he says. “If startup companies and new enterprises can’t access capital, they can’t succeed.” Today, Skauge is president and CEO of Olympia, and he’s helping an incredible number of those businesses find success. He says his focus wasn’t on growing the company into one of the largest financial institutions in Canada outside its Big Six banks. “I just put my head down and did the work.” And work he did, not only for his clients but for the securities industry as a whole. Skauge has helped meet the sector’s evolving needs by sharing his insights during development of a new SAIT Bachelor of Business Administration program featuring Canada’s first major in Financial Technology and Innovation. Another role for Skauge — advocacy — was sparked when he realized the need to challenge regulatory rules within Canadian capital markets. His work with Exempt Market Dealer Advisory Committees for both the Alberta and the Ontario Securities Commissions helped rewrite regulations to strike a balance between protecting investors and allowing businesses to thrive. After four years of being told such changes were impossible, Skauge’s efforts paid off. “So often in advocacy, there are extreme positions, but there is real value in being able to see both sides, and often there is a way to make them work together.” Wealth creation, says Skauge, is a balance, too. “There’s a point where it becomes about giving back.” For Skauge, that means supporting organizations like Dreams Take Flight (he was on its first-ever flight after surviving a brain tumour at age 11) and creating the Olympia Charitable Foundation. “It’s our own little mutual fund of charities,” says Skauge. “When employees donate, my father and I match it, and the company matches that. All of a sudden, a $1,200 donation becomes almost $5,000.” While the ultimate goal is community impact, it’s also about the intersection of business and humanity. “We’ve built a profitable company with great values and great people.” Setting a good example — both at work and at home — is important to Skauge. “When my son turned nine in June, he said, ‘I want you to give this to the kids,’ and handed over some of his birthday money for Dreams Take Flight. I think that’s pretty cool.” DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD Challenging the status quo. Staying relentlessly on your game. Beating the odds. Each of SAIT’s 2025 Alumni Awards recipients shares something in common: blazing new paths through the prism of their own experiences. Meet the trailblazers, mentors and leaders who are navigating life’s unexpected twists and turns, transforming their lives and helping others along the way. 11 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK Drive through certain Calgary neighbourhoods and you’re guaranteed to see several of Dean Bottomley’s luxurious home designs. Perhaps that’s why there’s a certain charm in knowing his internationally recognized architectural design firm began with Bottomley working from a dining room table. “I always knew I was going to start my own company. When my friend went on sabbatical and offered up his house, that table became my first design studio.” In the early days, Bottomley relied on the personal relationships he had built during seven years working with a Calgary home builder after graduating from SAIT. More than 90% of his clients came through builders, and he took any work he could get. Then things started to change. “When we presented plans for our first custom home in the community of Watermark, the builder’s jaw dropped — that home was unlike anything this city had seen before.” After that, Bottomley found more clients coming to him directly, and with bigger budgets. “Our entry-level home in 2010 was $500,000. Today, it’s $3 million.” Higher price points meant Bottomley could shift his work to match his passion: creating immersive architecture through artful structures that are far more than their component wood, stone, glass and steel. Today, Dean Thomas Design Group is a 17-person studio known for its unique style. “We always put our own little je ne sais quoi-kind of twist on things. Clients tell us that when they drive around neighbourhoods, it doesn’t matter whether the home is traditional or modern, they can tell it’s ours. “Joining our clients as they step into their finished home for the first time — seeing the way their faces light up, the emotion in their eyes, the quiet awe — it’s still one of the most rewarding moments for me, every single time.” Bottomley also takes pride in seeing growth in the designers he has hired — many of whom are SAIT graduates — and the ones who will follow in his footsteps. It’s why he plays an active role on the advisory board for SAIT’s Architectural Technologies program and helps facilitate site visits for its students. He’s also resurrected a design competition in the second semester of the program that was so pivotal to his own experience. “I’ve hired four of the winners over the years,” Bottomley says. “It’s been so cool to see things come full circle and to be able to help students have the same experience I did.” DEAN BOTTOMLEY Architectural Technologies ’02 President and Owner, Dean Thomas Design Group Established in 1988, the Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a SAIT graduate who demonstrates proven leadership skills, exceptional achievements in business or industry, outstanding contributions to the community and a history of support for SAIT. DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD 12 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK FEATURE: 2025 ALUMNI AWARDS13 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK A few months after Nadine Niba moved to Calgary, intent on realizing her dream of becoming a chartered professional accountant (CPA), she found herself bursting into tears on the CTrain. Having left behind both her career in Cameroon as an internal auditor at a tech company and her volunteer work with a charity keeping young girls out of forced marriages, she was juggling three jobs alongside her SAIT studies. Niba had no time left for sleep and not enough money for food. When a woman seated beside her asked why she was crying, Niba explained, and the stranger connected her with an organization that could provide necessities such as a bed to replace the air mattress she had been using and a winter coat. Life got better, but it was still far from easy. “I had this deep conviction that, despite everything, I was going to break through,” says Niba. “I had to. The girls at home were looking up to me.” In her second year, while looking for the co-op position she needed to graduate, Niba hit another low. “I was applying and applying, struggling every day to pay bills and not getting any calls. I told my parents I was coming home, so they bought me a ticket.” That same week, she got a call from Canadian Natural Resources about an eight-month co- op opportunity that changed everything. Four months later, during a conversation with her supervisor about her plans, Niba shared her goal of working at one of the Big Four accounting firms. A recommendation from her boss led Niba to a job at Ernst & Young that took her all over Canada, performing every kind of audit. She worked her way through roles at PwC and KPMG, and today leads the risk advisory practice at BDO. As Niba worked long hours to meet her own career goals, she also helped other immigrants reach theirs. Soon after shutting down her work computer for the day, she would be logging on at home to take calls from people struggling like she had. “I shared my journey, my mistakes, lessons I learned — and helped others write resumés, approach job interviews and become advocates for themselves.” Receiving a CPA Alberta Early Achievement Award for her exceptional service to the profession and the community inspired Niba to find a lasting way to share. The result is Quarterback: An Immigrant’s Guide to Corporate North America — an Amazon Canada bestseller within 24 hours of its launch in June 2025. “It feels like I’m dreaming — I’m still in shock, but this means my book is achieving the goal of inspiring many,” says Niba. “And I can’t wait to see what this award from SAIT is going to motivate me to do.” NADINE NIBA Bachelor of Applied Business Administration — Accounting ‘16 Alberta Regional Risk Advisory Services Leader, BDO Canada OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD 14 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK FEATURE: 2025 ALUMNI AWARDSZak Madell was 16 years old in 2011 when he jumped into a rugby chair for the first time. He’d tried sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball, but something about the fast, adrenaline-filled, hard- hitting sport just clicked. “Wheelchair rugby isn’t for the faint of heart, but I loved it.” And the game loved him back. Within a year, Madell made his debut with the Canadian National Wheelchair Rugby Team at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. “Representing my country for the first time was one of the best moments of my life,” he says. “Lining up shoulder-to- shoulder with teammates and mentors who were like big brothers, hearing the anthem and wearing a silver medal — the emotion was incredible.” That energy fuelled him through the next four years leading up to the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. “I still loved it, but rugby had consumed my entire life. It was time for a break.” Madell remembered the childhood passion he had for LEGO before losing his fingers and legs to a staph infection at age 10. And travelling the globe had given him new insight into accessibility challenges around the world. So, he dove into studying architectural technologies with the goal of making life more accessible, investing the same commitment and enthusiasm in his studies as he had in his sport. Not long after graduation, an opportunity to make a push for the 2019 Paralympics in Tokyo drew Madell back to rugby, where he stayed until the 2024 games in Paris. Even with his recent retirement, Madell knows the sport he loves will continue playing a part in his life. Before moving to Victoria, B.C. in 2023, Madell spent two years working with Wheelchair Sports Alberta, encouraging people to try adaptive sports. Today, he mentors and coaches young wheelchair rugby enthusiasts in the Victoria junior program. “Even after all these years, I still love it. There are so many benefits to sport, and I hope I’ve been able to share with others the same spark that set me up for success.” Madell is also working toward a future focused on accessible design. He recently completed the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification program and is looking forward to applying what he has learned in the 30 countries he visited as an athlete. “Canada is one of the most accessible countries I’ve been to, but there’s still a lot of work we can do to make spaces better for everyone.” Established in 2009, the Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes a SAIT graduate who has graduated from SAIT in the past 10 years and is 35 years or younger, has proven leadership skills, exhibits exceptional achievements in their field of endeavour and demonstrates outstanding contributions to the community. ZAK MADELL Architectural Technologies ’19 Accessibility advocate and four-time Paralympian OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD 15 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK Established in 2019 and named in honour of SAIT alumnus and longtime instructor Clarence Hollingworth, this award recognizes a graduate who is a SAIT staff or faculty member at the time of nomination; makes a demonstrative and positive impact in the SAIT community through their work; exemplifies a high level of excellence, professionalism and personal commitment to SAIT’s mission and core values; and embodies a spirit of alumni enthusiasm and pride in their work at SAIT. Lynda Holden is used to being the only woman in the room — or the hangar. Following two years as the lone female in her 1993 SAIT cohort, she found herself among just a handful of women during the early years of her aviation career. “I was so used to it from early on in my career that I think I take it for granted,” says Holden, a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. “It never bothered me. I never considered myself a female pioneer in a male-dominated field. I just made a concerted effort to be a valuable part of the team.” And that determination sparked her progression from apprentice to inspector to planning manager and production manager roles in industry. “Every minute is a different minute and every day is a different day,” she says. “In aircraft maintenance, you don’t know what aircraft is going to break. You don’t know what parts you are going to need, so you always need to be on your game.” Holden was fuelled by a new challenge when she returned to SAIT as an instructor in 2006. Since then, she has navigated her way to becoming Program Chair, then Associate Dean, and now Dean of the School of Transportation and the School of Manufacturing and Automation. Overseeing approximately 4,500 students and leading 230 staff sometimes parallels her work in aviation. “It isn’t just swooping in to save the day when things break; it’s like making sure the tire pressure is good and the oil is full. It’s a series of tiny moments that come together at the same time to have a cumulative impact.” In education, she explains, those moments involve building relationships — the small, meaningful interactions that occur every day between instructors, students, staff, leaders and industry professionals. “It’s the result of thousands of powerful little interactions — you don’t always need to do big, bold things to make a difference.” But there are times, says Holden, when big and bold are the right moves. As Calgary increasingly gains recognition for its growing aviation and aerospace ecosystem, she’s focused both on positioning SAIT as a leader and working with industry to ensure grads are confident when they walk into the hangar, shop or boardroom for the first time. “About 50% of the staff across both of my schools are alumni and when I think about the daily interactions that they have with our students, it speaks to the positive impact of this place and the incredible power SAIT has in making a difference in people’s lives — including my own.” LYNDA HOLDEN Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Technology ’93 Dean, SAIT School of Transportation and School of Manufacturing and Automation CLARENCE HOLLINGWORTH ALUMNI EMPLOYEE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE 16 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK FEATURE: 2025 ALUMNI AWARDSCONGRATULATIONS TO SAIT’S 2025 ALUMNI AWARDS RECIPIENTS We’re proud to share the stories of your achievements and impact Find video profiles of each recipient at sait.ca/LINK THANK YOU TO OUR PRESENTING SPONSOR 17 THE MAGAZINE FOR SAIT ALUMNI SAIT.CA/LINK Next >