MELANIE KOENDERMAN

Melanie is excited to be a part of the RISE selection committee, where she can continue to contribute to facilitating educational opportunities for students who are newcomers to Canada.

Melanie’s distinctive understanding of the power of higher education and global dialogue began while working as a diplomat in Canada’s Foreign Service, where she drafted international student immigration policy at Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada headquarters, and served as an immigration officer in posts in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Melanie leveraged those insights into the next fifteen years building out the student affairs portfolio as the founding Dean of Students at Quest University in British Columbia and Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University in Beijing, including student onboarding, success, and personal and professional development services and programs. She currently works with educational institutions and foundations in strategy, design, and coaching to support their missions.

Melanie is a mentor to several Beedie students, and looks forward to continuing to support the inspirational work of the Beedie Luminaries program.