“ Ali is an exceptional, kind-hearted and amazing leader. When he first started as Dean at the Beedie School of Business, he made it his mission to meet everyone within the first 90 days of his term. Ninety days is a long time, I thought in my head. It will be awhile until it’s my turn! But no longer than I thought, my supervisor told me Ali wants to meet with us tomorrow. At first, I felt very nervous meeting the new big boss. But Ali’s genuine caring attitude and his willingness to include staff as much as possible, made me realize the next few years at Beedie were going to be great!
Over the past few years, I feel very honoured to have learned from and worked alongside Ali. Whether it was B3 or his Ali’s updates, there was always something special about the way he did things. Every year, Ali and I would be working on set of 50+ letters to faculty. Of which, he told me in his first year, he could write all of them if he didn’t sleep for 1.5 days. Thankfully, that did not happen. All jokes aside, you can see Ali’s thoughtful comments and encouragement towards his colleagues in every letter he wrote.
To Ann and his family, my sincerest condolences for your loss.
Ali, I will miss your Christmas Cards, hallway chats, your passion for cooking and your secret recipes. ”