2024 officially marked 45 years of co-op excellence at Mount Saint Vincent University, and we celebrated!

For over four and a half decades, MSVU co-op, internship and work experience students have excelled in the workplace – making lasting impacts on their own careers and the employers they’ve worked for. In 2024, we celebrated this exciting milestone, by publishing videos of MSVU co-op graduates spanning the past 45 years. These videos showcased their experiences in co-op and how those experiences translated into lasting and successful careers.

We hope you enjoy hearing these inspiring alumni stories and feel encouraged to engage in work-integrated learning – whether you’re considering university or are an employer thinking about hiring a co-op students.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to these co-op alumni for joining us in celebrating an incredible 45 years of co-op. Here’s to many more years of success and opportunity.

 

Henry Li, BTHM, 2017

Henry graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a bachelor’s degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management in 2016. For his co-op terms, Henry worked in the Housekeeping and Front Desk departments at Fairmont Banff Springs. These experiences refined Henry’s customer service and problem-solving skills.

Upon graduation, Henry started working as Assistant Front Office Manager at Sofitel Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel in China. After two years in that role, Henry took on a new position as the Front Office Manager at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. Eventually, Henry returned to China so be the Front Office Manager at the Hard Rock Hotel in Dalian and has now settled in as Front Office Manager at Langham Hotel in Hefei, China. Henry is currently doing a Master’s program in International Hotel Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and also serves as a student representative in the program.

Henry says that the co-op program at Mount Saint Vincent University is a great program that helps students get exposure to the real working world – not only to gain working experience, but also to help prepare them in their studies.

Tammy Alamrieh, BPR, 2016

As the Head of Government and Public Affairs for McDonald’s Canada, a company that employs almost 100,000 Canadians and serves 1.6 million people every day in over 1,400 restaurants, Tammy oversees a team with the goal to drive impact and enhance brand trust with government stakeholders. In this capacity, she has played an instrumental role in navigating complex regulatory and political landscapes with proactive government strategies addressing critical industry issues such as sustainability, labour standards, taxation, and more. Alongside this, Tammy works with various stakeholders to optimize the company’s grassroots system of franchisees, suppliers, and business partners.

Tammy’s career extends across various sectors, including technology, pharmaceuticals, the private sector, non-profits, and finance. Tammy holds a master’s in political management from the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program at Carleton University and a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Mount Saint Vincent University. After graduating from the Riddell program, she worked for National Public Relations in Ottawa and Argyle Public Relations in Toronto where she worked with Meta (formerly Facebook Canada) as an extension of their two-person Public Policy team.

Haley Green, BTHM, 2015

Haley Green is Recruitment Lead, for Jazz Aviation LP, hiring the Flight Attendants for their five Canadian bases. She holds two degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University; A Bachelor or Tourism and Hospitality Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Major in Human Resources and Minor in Marketing. After her first graduation in 2015, she went on to be a wedding and events planner for 6 years working with various catering companies and as a freelancer in the HRM. When COVID-19 changed the wedding industry, Haley returned to MSVU to obtain a new skillset and change career paths. After her second graduation in 2022, she started with Jazz Aviation as a Recruitment Coordinator but her expertise in attention to detail, organization, planning, and customer service quickly led her to her new role as the Recruitment Lead position.

Tharmini Arulramalingam, BBA, 2015

Tharmini Arulramalingam is a Senior Financial Advisor Scotiabank, based in Halifax. She completed her Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in Accounting and Information Technology in 2015. Tharmini completed her co-op work terms at O’Regans and Scotiabank. Her experience with both the automotive and banking industries helped her decide where she ultimately wanted to go in her career. Tharmini says that Mount Saint Vincent University’s small classroom sizes helped her to practice public speaking and presentation skills, which have built up her confidence and helped her shape a successful career.

Rebecca Skinner, BBA, 2014

Rebecca is Regional Advisor for the Atlantic region at Invest in Canada. In this role, Rebecca develops and promotes the region’s value proposition for investment and facilitates investment attraction efforts between Invest in Canada and local partners. Rebecca leads partnerships in Atlantic Canada on behalf of the organization, working collaboratively with provinces and municipalities.

Prior to joining Invest in Canada, Rebecca held two roles at Nova Scotia Business Inc., the province’s economic development agency. In her role as International Marketing Advisor, she developed and implemented marketing strategies in support of the province’s investment attraction efforts. In her role as Sector Strategist, Rebecca was responsible for arming the organization with the intelligence required to drive growth within the Ocean Technology and Aerospace & Defense sectors. She was responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating domestic and international sector intelligence, ensuring NSBI’s strategies and initiatives were evidence-based and targeted.

Rebecca received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Mount Saint Vincent University and graduated as valedictorian of her class. In 2019, she earned her Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary’s University and was awarded the Harold G. Beazley Medal – the oldest graduate-level University Gold medal, recognizing highest academic achievement for graduates of the Master of Business Administration. Rebecca resides in Halifax with her husband and young son.

Melanie Lowe, BTHM, 2013

Melanie is from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. She studied at Mount Saint Vincent University between 2009 – 2013. Melanie lives in HRM with her partner Sam and works with Tourism Nova Scotia as a Tourism Development Advisor. In previous years she has worked with Marriott, Nustadia Recreation, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, and the Kinu Tourism Project at MSVU.

Adam Bower, BTHM, 2003

Adam Bower’s career in the food and beverage industry has come full circle and he couldn’t be happier. Now the owner of The Grand Banker Bar and Grill and Brigantine Inn in Lunenburg, Adam worked there from 1998 to 2002 as busboy, server and eventually assistant manager, while attending Mount Saint Vincent University. That early foray in the restaurant business convinced Adam that food service was the industry for him.

After graduating from MSVU with a Bachelor of Tourism & Hospitality Management degree, Adam headed west to be a manager at the prestigious Fairmount Jasper Park Lodge Luxury Resort in Alberta. After four years out west, the call of the Atlantic brought him back to Nova Scotia, as Food & Beverage Manager at the Delta Hotels in downtown Halifax. After almost ten years working in the demanding but rewarding environment of a large hotel, and a shorter stint in a managerial role at The Halifax Club, an opportunity to purchase the landmark Lunenburg restaurant presented itself. In 2017, under Adam’s leadership, the Grand Banker was awarded the “Restaurant of the Year” by Taste of Nova Scotia.

Adam has most recently opened Lunenburg’s first craft brewing company, Shipwright Brewing Company, in 2018. In 2020, Adam purchased the Old Fish Factory restaurant on the waterfront in Lunenburg; a 250-seat restaurant which is the largest in town, located in the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. In 2023, Adam opened his third restaurant, Shipwright Brewing Taproom + Pizza, which has 25 taps with all Nova Scotia products including his own beer, and specializes in gourmet signature pizzas.

Adam employees over 140 staff in peak season. Adam is also a CAPS (Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers) trained sommelier, and sits on many industry boards, including Taste of Nova Scotia and the Restaurant Industry of Nova Scotia.  He also has been a part-time instructor at MSVU, and loves getting back on campus in continuing to be a part of the university that has done so much for his career.

Adam is a hands-on owner, with a passion for his hometown, local Nova Scotia products and the relationships with producers, and continuing to create unique offerings and experiences for his community.

Lynn Coveyduck, BPR, 1996

Lynn’s Dad would say she can’t keep a job…she says she’s just interested in too many different things. Over the course of her career, Lynn has led a non-profit, tackled media issues such as strikes and lay-offs, built new lines of revenue, and managed an economic development team’s province-wide response to COVID-19 in its early days. At the same time, she’s raised funds to build a new YMCA and the Margaret Norrie McCain Centre at MSVU, mentored students, entrepreneurs, and new Nova Scotians, been on a Chamber of Commerce task force, and helped plan provincial legs of national conferences (twice). And she’s also the only Duke MBA graduate in Atlantic Canada (as far as she knows – if you’re a Blue Devil, get in touch). Now she’s stepped into the VC realm, using her strategic management skills to align Sandpiper’s work and ensure founders and investors are given the custom, thoughtful Sandpiper treatment they won’t get anywhere else.

Amy Thurlow, BPR, 1989

Amy is Professor of Communication at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada. Her research is motivated by a curiosity about how humans socially construct and enact organization through processes of identity construction. Her recent work includes historical constructions of identity and the alternative histories often ignored in that process. Her 2019 book, Social Media, Organizational Identity and Public Relations: The Challenge of Authenticity, investigates identity construction in a virtual context. Her most recent book, Diversity and Business Storytelling (2023), is a collection of works exploring diversity in organizations from a variety of perspectives, co-edited with Dr. Jean Helms Mills.

Among other courses, Amy teaches Strategic Public Relations in the Master of Public Relations program, as well as the Foundations of Public Relations course in the Bachelor of Public Relations degree program, both at MSVU. She has been teaching for the past two decades and previously worked in public relations as a communications officer in the international development and health care sectors.