Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 62
62
( 2026)
SPONSOR CONTENT
Learning never stops for employees at George Brown
G
eorge Brown
Polytechnic has a
reputation for lifelong
learning, but it’s not
just for students, says
Keshia Fortune.
“I’m literally a lifelong learner,”
she says of the array of roles
she has held at the institution
(formerly George Brown College)
over the last 20 years, starting
with the part-time jobs she had
while studying for her advanced
three-year diploma in the school’s
human resources program.
Since then, she has worked
as an office assistant, special
events supervisor and student
engagement coordinator, among
other roles.
And she’s now working as a
non-direct recruitment officer,
marketing the school to mature
students.
I absolutely credit George
Brown for their willingness to allow me to grow
in so many different areas.
— Nerys Rau
Executive Director of Facilities
and Sustainability
The fears mature students face
returning to school is something
Fortune understands well, since
she has continued to upgrade her
own skills and education by taking
certificate programs at George
Brown at every opportunity
and is now taking a bachelor
of commerce degree in digital
marketing — all while working
full-time. And it's not just the
school’s openness to transferring
Keshia Fortune, non-direct recruitment officer (left), and Alexandra Stirling, marketing manager, at George
Brown Polytechnic.
employees into various roles that
has helped her over the years. It is
the tremendous support she has
received from her bosses.
“I’ve honestly had some amazing
managers,” she says. One previous
manager in particular gave her the
confidence to take on new duties.
“She built my confidence, and she
helped me build my skill set.”
And the push didn’t stop there.
Fortune says that a manager
encouraged her to go for a degree.
Fortune is not alone in finding
George Brown supports staff to
surf new career opportunities at
its three Toronto campuses.
“I absolutely credit George
Brown for their willingness to
allow me to grow in so many
different areas,” says Nerys Rau,
who is now executive director of
facilities and sustainability.
Rau had an MBA and a career
in project management when she
arrived at George Brown to take on
a finance, operations and project
management role in the health
sciences department.
But when George Brown started
building its Waterfront Campus in
2009, the VP of corporate services
asked her if she would manage the
construction of the first building.
“I didn’t have a construction
background, but he recognized
I could manage the stakeholder
management, the budgets, the
project management aspect and
the coordination with the college,”
she says.
“So, I moved over and got deeply
involved in the construction and
really liked it.”
From there, she moved into
managing the conversion of the
Pan Am Games Athletes’ Village
into a student residence, then
became director of the strategic
planning office, where she
prioritized enterprise projects and
developed project management
capability across the organization.
Then — without a background
in IT — she was asked to be the
director of IT operations.
That was when the pandemic
