LINDSEY FAIR, MBA, PhD
Fueled by coffee, driven by innovation.
Senior higher ed admin by day, wine taster, hand knitter, community-builder by night.
From London, a Kingstonian at heart, currently living on Vancouver Island. A strong character built from a hard-working mom, a pool-shark dad, 10-years at a theatre school and 10+ yrs as a sea cadet. So in other words - combine work ethic + tenacity + creativity + discipline = me.
I put everything I have into everything I do. I'm an all-in kind of person. A mother of one fantastic young man and wife to one perfect-for-me husband, and hopefully a daughter, aunt, sister that makes my family happy to call me theirs (albeit a little outspoken at times).
On weekends, I am torn between playing outside (skiing, sailing, SUP'ing, paddling or hiking are my favs) or painting with beeswax (encaustic) in my make-shift artist bench in the shed.
My favourite drink in the morning is coffee, my favourite drink at night is a smooth red syrah, but an old fashion is vying for top position lately.
My top 5 (CliftonStrengths) are woo, activator, significance, communication and achiever. My DISc profile is I.D, I'm an orange on the colour personality test, and if I remember correctly I am an ENTJ. My Instagram account is usually a good way to get to know me outside of work.
the STUDENT
Always a student. Two college diplomas, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Cape Breton University, and a PhD in Place Branding from Queen's University.
My Master's thesis, An employer's perspective on teaching essential employability skills in higher education, has been cited several times and presented at several conferences. Other papers during my Master's focused on social capital, innovation, local entrepreneurship and social media.
I have had the opportunity to be a primary investigator on several government-funded research projects related to digital marketing, social media, and market competitiveness. A summary of "Employee Recruiting 3.0 - breaking down silos" can be found on my slideshare account.
My Ph.D. dissertation (Platform Placemaking Machines) ties together my interest and experience in urban development and marketing by investigating the impacts of user-generated content on place branding. In my first year of studies I presented at TedX Queen's (Me, Myself and A.I.). To learn more about my research check out my student blog - City of Brands.
the STRATEGIST
I am known for my creative marketing approach, starting with a resume I printed on the side of a coffee cup, which led to my first marketing job at an international hotel chain (where I won the Tourism Award for southwestern Ontario).
I have led two successful web-based startups (Market Me - a web marketing agency at the dawn of the industry when Ask Jeeves was cool, and 14 Theories - a large technology solutions company with offices in Canada and Nepal). Winning the Young Entrepreneur of the year was my highlight from that time.
After an energizing conversation with a great friend and colleague, Matt Hutcheon, we co-authored a business book called Trucker Management: Driving ANY Small Business to Success. The book offers easy-to-implement routines and provides specific, practical tools to help small business owners "drive" their businesses towards success - nothing to do with Trucking itself. These resources are modelled from the long-established tools and proven practices used by truckers to safely and effectively drive their rigs to their destinations. Our book has taken us to Scotland, Ireland, Turkey, British Columbia, and throughout the US; to give keynote presentations and workshops on small business management.
After volunteering with the local economic development office as a consultant and small business mentor, I led the Entrepreneurship Centre through a difficult transition to becoming the top-performing centre in the province.
I have had the privilege of working with several organizations such as Export Development Canada, Craft Ontario, IBM, ViaRail, the City of Kingston and many others on strategic planning, marketing and communications.
Working as an Associate Vice President of University Communications and Marketing at the University of Victoria and previously at SAIT, following being the Director of Marketing, Communications and Recruitment at Queen's University, I have a track record of strategic enrolment management success, cutting edge and results-oriented marketing strategies. My teams are pushed hard to succeed - and they do.
The best way to learn more about my work is to find me on Linkedin.
the TEACHER
For sixteen years, I taught business strategy, competitive strategy, marketing, digital innovation, and place branding at several post-secondary institutions, including Queen's University, St. Lawrence College, Laurentian University, Loyalist College, Sir Sanford Fleming, Brock University, University of Glasgow and the Royal Military College.
I thrive on using applied learning strategies in my classrooms and, most notably, getting my students out of the classroom and into the real world as much as possible. One great example of this was the daring adventure of taking several students to New York City every year to participate in an exclusive MarCom Conference called PivotCon. Here's a snippet from Andrew Grill from one of those trips.
The best way to get to know me as a teacher is to check out some of my slides on slideshare or see my recommendations on Linkedin.
