Dalhousie Alumni Association Board

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Armaan Ahluwalia (BMgmt’13) was born and raised in Winnipeg, but has spent time across the continent with stops in Halifax, San Diego, Kansas City and now, Brooklyn.  

He is currently at the BSE Global (parent company of the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty) as the director of global partnerships business operations and insights where he oversees special projects, insights, and data for the global partnerships team. Prior to BSE Global, he worked with the Kansas City Chiefs for six seasons. During his time in Kansas City, he was part of the team that sold naming rights to the historic Arrowhead Stadium, now GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Armaan graduated from Dalhousie University with a degree in business management after majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation. He went on to complete his MBA with a focus in sports business at San Diego State University.

He lives with his wife and dog in Brooklyn, N.Y. He enjoys trying out new restaurants, travelling and visiting dog parks.

Location: Calgary, Alberta

Karen Birss (MBA’20) is the Senior Vice President, Prairie Region for Scotiabank where she provides senior leadership and strategic oversight for the Scotiabank network across Western Canada’s Prairie provinces and NWT.

Karen joined Scotiabank in 1998 and has held increasingly senior positions in Retail Banking and Wealth Management.  She has lived and worked in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia through her tenure with the bank, and has been actively involved in the business and not-for-profit communities in each of the provinces she’s lived in. 

She currently serves on the Calgary Flames Foundation board and Dalhousie University’s Alumni Association (DAA) board of directors.

In the past Karen has been an executive sponsor for Atlantic’s Scotiabank Black Employee resource group, a director for Easter Seals NS and CNIB SK, and is an active member of the Calgary chapter for IWF (International Women’s Forum).

Karen holds an MBA in financial services from Dalhousie University (’20) and has been a mentor and volunteer for Dalhousie’s alumni leadership program.  She and her husband now call Calgary home while two of their three children complete university in Nova Scotia.  

Location: Halifax, N.S.

Jane Bolivar (BA'92, BAAMC'96) is an experienced, learner focused educator and administrator within the post-secondary, health and government sectors, specializing in Professional and Leadership Development. With her Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from Dalhousie University and a master’s degree in Adult Education, she has always been passionate about the profound transformative power of education and learning. 

Being on the Alumni Board of Directors brings Jane full circle back to her early professional roots working at Dalhousie in the Office of Advancement (Alumni and Development). Through this work she learned first-hand the importance of connections with alumni – a robust and diverse network of talented professionals working in literally all sectors across the region, country and the world. 

Jane has held leadership roles in education at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Dentistry and Departments of Medicine and Anesthesiology. She has also held posts at NSCAD University, the Atlantic School of Theology, and most recently, Director of Graduate Career Services at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University. Always ready to step outside of her comfort zone, Jane has served in a former Premier’s Office as a senior policy advisor, as well as a stint as Communications Director for a Member of Parliament.

The cause of improved adult literacy has always been important to Jane, and she has spent several years as a tutor through the Halifax Community Learning Network, where she also held a position on the board.  She also Co-Chaired the Halifax Community Health Board, an important advisory group to Nova Scotia Health,  linking the community with policymakers.

Today Jane holds the post of Manager, Physician Learning, Development and Support at the Nova Scotia Health Authority. This team works with the province’s 3,000 plus physicians to build healthcare leadership capacity as well as work with new physicians, coming to work in the province, with enhanced onboarding programming. 

Jane is an avid walker and thrives on being outside.  She lives with her husband in Halifax and enjoys time spent with family and friends. 

Location: Toronto, Ont.

Dr. Cathy J. Campbell (BPE’75, MSc’77) is a native of Halifax, N.S., who currently works at Cleveland Clinic Canada in Toronto, practicing both sport and family medicine. She completed a physical education degree and a Master of Science specializing in exercise physiology at Dalhousie University while competing in and coaching track and field for many years, specializing in sprints, hurdles, and relays. After working in Ottawa for 3 years with the Coaching Association of Canada, she went back to university, completing a medical degree in 1983 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. She subsequently completed a residency in family medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Dr. Campbell worked internationally from 1988 to 2002, practicing in Connecticut and Texas before returning to Canada and settling in Toronto. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Campbell served as the team physician for the Canadian Women’s National Soccer teams from 2000 to 2012, travelling extensively and culminating in their winning the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Since 2008, she has served FIFA as a medical officer and a doping control officer. In these roles for Canada and for FIFA, she has attended 17 FIFA World Cups.

In recognition of her contributions to sport, in 2014 Dr. Campbell was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame as a builder. And in recognition of her contributions as a physician leader, in 2014 she was the recipient of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) Community Sport Medicine Physician of the Year. In 2021, Dr. Campbell was elected president of CASEM.

Dr. Campbell is thrilled to join the Dalhousie Alumni Association and to have the opportunity to contribute to the splendid institution that gave her such an excellent beginning to her career.

Location: Toronto, Ont.

David Leonard (BA’22) is an arts and social purpose executive who is currently the Executive Director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, an organization dedicated to celebrating and supporting writers at every stage of their careers. He has over two decades of experience at the heart of purpose-driven organizations, helping Canadian arts organizations and non-profits achieve success in strategy, public outreach, program development, and organizational growth. He has been a central part of significant initiatives globally, as well in every Canadian province and territory.

Prior to his current role, David worked as a consultant with clients including nation-building non-profits, leading universities, national policy organizations, boutique communications firms, and community-level charities. He also previously held a leadership role at the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, where he ran their flagship international inclusion initiative, 6 Degrees, executive producing numerous events in Canada, Germany, and Mexico, and overseeing the development of a content program featuring leading contributions from around the world. He was also head of events at The Walrus Foundation for nearly a decade, building a nationally respected program of events and fundraising—including The Walrus Talks—that featured established and emerging Canadian leaders on the most pressing issues facing the world. In these roles, David’s commitment to reflecting the full spectrum of Canadian ideas meant platforming credible voices from underrepresented communities alongside household names and ensuring that Canadians were both educated and entertained. He also did communications and campaign work for a number of national environmental charities, including as book campaign lead at Canopy, and before that spent almost a decade in charge of publicity campaigns for some of the most well-known authors and publishers in Canada and around the world.

David has devoted volunteer time to social causes for his entire adult life and is currently the President of the Board of Directors of Word on the Street Toronto. David was raised in Dartmouth and lives in Toronto.

Location: Montreal, Quebec

Raphieal Newbold (BSc’18) was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas, but eagerly agreed to trade in flip flops for snow boots in 2014 when he moved to Halifax to study at Dal.

While there, he was widely involved in student life – from being a senior residence assistant to serving on the executive of the biology and science societies. He was humbled to receive the Aramark Leadership Award from Dal as well as departmental awards from the Department of Biology for his extracurricular pursuits during his time as a student.

After completing his BSc in biology with a minor in spanish at Dal in 2018, he moved to Montréal where he completed his MSc in experimental medicine at McGill. He now considers Montréal home, where he works as a medical writer, preparing clinical study reports and scholarly, academic material.

Volunteerism is one of his greatest passions. Raphieal loved his Dal experience so much that he wanted to remain connected to the university as an alum, which led to him joining the Dal Insight Circle and now, the DAA. He also serves as the Vice President of Public Policy for the Uplift Canada Foundation, a non-profit organization that upcycles donated clothing and relocates them to local shelters, and has previously volunteered as a tutor, supporting grade school students and adult learners in underserved communities.

Location: St. John’s, N.L.

Dr. Angela Ridi (MD’03) was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and after graduating from McGill, completed the Diplome international at Universite de Lyon- Lumiere as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar before returning to Nova Scotia to attend Dalhousie Medical School. During residency, Angela studied at Universite d’Ottawa and obtained the Diplome de competances en langue seconde (francais), and maintains her bilingualism through ongoing course work and travel.

As an academic anesthesiologist in St. John’s, N.L., Angela is a clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University and has been teaching at Memorial Medical School since 2009. She has a particular interest in advanced airway management, and enjoys incorporating some pediatric work into her practice. In addition, teaching is part of her daily work in the operating room, and includes medical students, medical residents, respiratory therapy students and advanced care paramedic students. Community work close to home includes volunteering for local Multicultural Day, Girl Guides of Canada, and the Canadian Federation of Medical Women, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of a local school.

Nationally, Angela is a long-standing Director on the Board of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society, an Executive Board member for the Atlantic Division of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society and Trustee of the Canadian Anesthesia Research Foundation.

Location: Fredericton, N.B.

Jordan Wilson (BEng’14) is a dedicated leader with a wide-ranging career as an engineer and executive in the private and public sectors, predominantly in environmental, natural resource, energy, and environmental litigation fields. He graduated from Dal with an environmental engineering degree and began his career in the potash mining industry, prior to joining a professional services consulting firm. As a consulting engineer and associate in the firm, Jordan worked in every corner of Canada, and internationally, in the fields of environmental remediation, site assessment, risk management, and environmental litigation.

Jordan then joined the federal government as a senior engineer at Natural Resources Canada, and is now the Director of Environmental Management at Environment and Climate Change Canada. At ECCC, he is responsible for the ongoing risk management and remediation of several highly sensitive and complex contaminated sites, and oversees ECCC's greening responsibilities to reduce the department's own environmental footprint. A lifelong learner, Jordan also has a certificate in Risk Management, and a masters in law (LLM) in energy/environmental law.

During his time on Sexton Campus, Jordan was a dedicated student and volunteer. He volunteered at department events, was a residence assistant, and a longtime player and manager of Dalhousie's Men's Baseball team. He received several awards during this time, including significant scholarships, the Dean's List, and a Dalhousie Impact Award for his dedication to sport club programs. He continues to volunteer in the engineering community, including as a board member of the NB professional engineering association's Foundation for Education, and looks forward to continuing to serve and give back to the tremendous Dalhousie Alumni community.

A small-town New Brunswicker at heart, Jordan's studies and career have seen him work from Halifax, Saskatoon, Toronto, Ottawa, and London, UK, before recently moving back home to NB. He lives in Fredericton with his wife, and enjoys spending time as a wannabe triathlete, and even-more-wannabe golfer.