Wendy Beckles named Alumni of Distinction Business Award recipient

Posted on Thursday, September 8th, 2022

Every year, Algonquin College celebrates the incredible achievements of its alumni through the Alumni of Distinction Awards. These awards honour the extraordinary contributions our graduates make to the community while achieving career success. Here is a closer look at the Alumni of Distinction – Business Award recipient Wendy Beckles.

President and CEO, Shepherd Village Inc.

Financial Management, Class of 1993

Congratulations to 2022 Alumni of Distinction Business Award recipient Wendy Beckles, Financial Management, Class of 1993.

Relationships and teamwork are at the heart of leadership for Wendy Beckles. They’re what helped propel her to success in her career — and they’re what helped the seniors’ community she runs in Toronto keep COVID-19 at bay in the first wave of the pandemic.  

Beckles rallied the troops, prioritized transparency, and assured her staff that they were facing the deadly virus together.  

“It took being able to say, ‘I’m afraid, too. But I need you with me, and I need you to trust me. Together we’re going to find the solution.’” 

A Chartered Professional Accountant and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and president of Shepherd Village, an integrated seniors’ healthcare community, Beckles knows about teamwork. She credits Algonquin College with fostering the notion that it’s important to watch for those who might fall through the cracks and ensure you finish the work as a team — whether it’s as simple as completing a group assignment or as challenging as surviving a pandemic.  

Born in Montreal and later relocated to Barbados with her family, Beckles left her job in Ernst and Young’s Barbadian office to return to Canada to attend Algonquin College in 1989. She recalls a welcoming place with many international students, approachable professors and the tools required to learn. 

“I got into a group that was going up to the lecturer after class and asking for exercises to do at home or extra work. And I’m telling you it just fostered the whole feeling that I could produce some of my best work, and I did. I really found my confidence. 

“There were a lot of us that had relocated or were international in some way, and we had to help each other because we needed to succeed. It was the atmosphere. It was more than just, ‘I’m pushing for myself.’ You were helping others.” 

Beckles went back to Barbados after her first child was born in 1994 and continued to work full-time in business. She returned to Canada with her family in 2000 and settled in Brampton, Ont. Always driven, Beckles never took more than two weeks’ maternity leave with her three children and kept up her adding-machine skills summing numbers from the phone book. 

She completed her studies for her Certified General Accountant accreditation — a baby keeping her company in his car seat on the dining room table — then picked up work doing accounting for small non-profits and bookkeeping for her neighbours. Kensington Health, a long-term care facility in Toronto, asked her to be its chief financial officer in 2003, setting her on the path to Shepherd Village, and her role in the pandemic response. 

After being recognized for her exemplary leadership during the pandemic with an award from the Scarborough-Agincourt community, the Ontario government invited her to serve on the Provincial Recovery and Planning Table to advise the Ministry of Health on implementation and oversight of COVID protocols throughout the pandemic. She is also now teaching a crisis management course to all long-term care administrators through AdvantAge Ontario’s Administrator Leadership Program. 

“Just when you think you’ve got a plan, the rug gets pulled out and you get a whole whack of uncertainty thrown at you,” she said. “I’ve got colleagues throughout the industry that work very hard, and it just came down to being ready, to working with the team to build relationships, and to being willing to show up. 

“I said, ‘How am I going to look my team in the face and say, ‘I need you to risk your life?’ It’s no time to lead from a distance. This is a time to be right beside your team.” 

Beckles was beside her team and ahead of the curve, acting in January 2020 to face the coming virus. She restricted visitor access and put in place many of the infection control and personnel-related protocols the City and Province would later introduce. She also acted to get additional personal protective equipment for her staff. 

“I was on the phone to China saying, ‘I need masks, I need gowns,’” she said. 

During the first wave in 2020 when seniors’ residences in Ontario were devastated by almost 4,000 COVID deaths, no COVID cases entered Shepherd Village. When COVID did enter the facility, it came by way of a resident sent back from hospital. Ultimately, the facility had 10 deaths in some way attributed to COVID. 

Outside of work, Beckles has long been a community leader and volunteer. In 2007, she co-founded the Canadian Multicultural LEAD Organization for Mentoring & Training. This organization has helped more than 650 youths and adults succeed, especially through mentorship programs. Beckles now serves as president. She volunteered for four years as treasurer of The Dam (Develop. Assist. Mentor.), a youth outreach program, and has served as treasurer for Open Doors Canada, an international organization supporting persecuted Christians, for more than 17 years. 

Many honours and awards further attest to Beckles’ leadership, accomplishments and stature in the community. In 2021, she appeared on the WXN (Women’s Executive Network) Top 100 “Canada’s Most Powerful Women” list for her leadership excellence and inspiring the next generation of women leaders. In 2020, she was named one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, which recognizes her personal support and involvement in the advancement of Black women and girls. 

In 2021, Beckles received the University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice-Chancellor Award, bestowed on individuals of Caribbean-Canadian heritage who are successful in their fields. She received the Black Business & Professional Association’s Harry Jerome Award for Leadership in 2019 and, in 2012, she was recognized by Planet Africa for her contribution to the Crossover Mentorship Program. The Toronto Police Service recognized her positive contributions to the community and to youth in 2011. 

Beckles’ volunteer work speaks to her passion for supporting people and helping them succeed. 

She looks at the future of Shepherd Village through that lens too: accepting the new protocols as the new normal; planning to train families and non-essential caregivers to be part of the care team so they don’t get shut out by a future health event; and helping her staff develop the critical thinking skills that give people power in a crisis. 

Beckles demonstrated that forcefully when employees had a hard time accepting the co-workers that did end up with COVID back into the workplace once they were well. They were afraid they would get sick too. Beckles led like an army general.

“I said to the team, ‘Listen. These are soldiers working with us. They now have valuable antibodies and they’re the ones saying, ‘We will go to the front-line with the COVID-positive.’ This is no time for you to be hands off. This is the time to embrace them. Because they fell in the war that we are still fighting on their backs.’” 

Beckles leads from the front, looks for wisdom and strength from her faith, and puts relationships and teamwork first. And those qualities have led to her success, before, during, and undoubtedly after the pandemic. 

Click here to purchase tickets for the Alumni of Distinction event on Sept. 29, 2022. 
Click here to visit the Alumni of Distinction website.


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