Ehab James

Ehab James

Councilor, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, He/Him

About

International Affairs & Crisis Response for the Government of Canada. Governing Member of the University of Toronto. I help people build impactful communities.

Work Experience

2023 — Now
Ottawa, ON

International Affairs & Crisis Response

● Acting Officer, assessing sponsors of privately sponsored refugees applying for permanent citizenship in Canada and making decisions on applications.

●        Design and manage innovation and tracking projects to resolve inefficiencies, track employee work, and improve productivity, by making changes to Standard Operating Procedures, departmental practices and policies, and developing workflows while identifying new opportunities for improvement.

●        Respond to client service enquiries and engage directly with clients to update applications, perform quality assurance checks on work, identify and resolve issues with applications.

2023 — Now
Mississauga, ON

Member:
UofT Academic Board
UofT Committee on Academic Policy and Programs
UTM Campus Council
UTM Academic Affairs Committee
UTM Campus Affairs Committee
UTM Nominating Committee
UTM Academic Planning Task Force

● Elected (April 2023 & re-elected April 2024) by over 15,000 students to the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus Council; appointed by merit to the university’s Academic Affairs Committee.
● Fiduciary for the university, representing 15,000+ constituents and the university's interests.
● Develop, scrutinize, and review policies and oversee academic, business, and student affairs at the University of Toronto Mississauga regarding over 1,000 agenda items and other pressing matters.
● Govern campus-specific matters, consult with stakeholders, and influence interest groups.
● Facilitate high-level meetings, influencing municipal and provincial policies to promote university interests through establishing key stakeholders and contacts in the private and public sectors.
● Successfully implemented 14 campaign policies to date, improving student conditions, gaining approvals from university officials.
● Create and launch social media campaigns and advertising content to highlight work to constituents.

2024 — Now
Mississauga, ON
  • Director and CEO, leading a team eight, directing the company's vision, strategic and growth objectives

  • Create and deliver communications and marketing strategy to over a dozen clients, including small businesses, tech startups, content creators, and government officials, across social and print media

  • Contribute to client growth objectives, leading to social media growth as strong as 20-fold in the span of three months

2023 — 2024
Mississauga, Ontario

Responsible for advising the MP and team on social media and crisis strategy.
Championing a video series on transparent, engaging government.

2023 — 2024
Mississauga, ON

●        Selected by Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean Nicholas Rule as the sole student member of the Academic Plan Task Force, crafting the next five-year academic plan for the University of Toronto Mississauga campus.

●        Performed outreach activities, liaising with numerous university administrators and departments, and over 100 student leaders, club, society and union members.

●        Proposed over a dozen unique additions and considerations for the Academic Plan, performing research and surveying updates.

2022 — 2023
Ottawa, ON

Responsible for leading and assisting with operations, training, administrative and communications functions, managing casework with several Canadian ministries and ministerial offices, and crafting the Minister’s social media and communications strategy. Office of the Hon. Omar Alghabra, P.C, MP for Mississauga Centre, and Minister of Transport.
● Lead operational and administrative functions in the office of Hon. Omar Alghabra, P.C., MP for Mississauga Centre, and Minister of Transport; Former Summer Leadership Program intern 2022.
● Managed casework and communications with several Canadian ministries, resolving over 250 cases.
● Assisted with Minister's communications and social media strategy.
● Used CRM software for casework management and liaised with Federal government offices.
● Organized events and fundraisers with large-scale participation, over 100 attendees per event.
● Oversaw administrative tasks such as correspondence writing, phone answering, and outreach.
● Oversaw stakeholder relationships, community outreach, and Minister's external communications.
● Conducted research within Government of Canada and external agencies to address urgent issues.
● Trained new employees in office policies, CRM software, and public relations interactions.
● Disseminated information on the Minister’s and government initiatives through social media, including writing video scripts and analyzing trends.
● Aided in developing engaging media content for social media and official channels using Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom.
● Responsible for staffing the Minister to events, taking photos, and conducting research on organizations and individuals for Transport Canada and local events.

2021 — 2022
Toronto, ON

Acting Team Leader - Legislative Usher
Parliamentary Protocol & Public Relations
- Responsible for completing shift reports, liaising with two branches of management and leading shift operations
- Coordinating posts and managing shift issues with team members and upper management
- Managing delivery and placement of key documents for the house's day-to-day operations
- Act as a liaison between the Members of Provincial Parliament, their staff & other chamber personnel
- Ensure compliance with Legislative Procedures & Protocols
- Supervise and mentor Legislative Pages
- Occasionally answer phones, handle important document delivery, and ensure smooth operations in the chamber
- Assist with the daily administration of the House sessions, dealing with MPPs, staffers, and visitors
- Ensure rules of the House are observed with a high degree of professionalism, while maintaining confidentiality of the proceedings, and a non-partisan support role
- Tactfully and respectfully interact with and assist members of the public, delegations, lobbyists, and other special interest groups
- Assist with administrative duties for committee meetings and other proceedings

2021 — 2022
Providence, RI

Marketed Pangea.app's Top Emerging Talent (Winter '22 Cohort) applications to 100,000+ undergraduate students. Employed creative digital marketing strategies. Worked with a team of 10 and over 200+ accepted applicants.
● Designed creative online ads using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom and Canva
● Fostered a welcoming and engaging community of 200+ accepted applicants, assisting with resume and portfolio building, seeking professional opportunities, networking and skills development
● Achieved 60% conversion rate through word-of-mouth marketing and social media content of students to customers
● Responsible for community management, customer success and marketing communications for the company
● Working with the CEO 1-1 on growth strategy, marketing and maintaining an online forum while researching strategy and interest groups, crafting strategies to reach them and successfully convert them to customers
● Developed and deployed marketing strategies, growing a community of over 9,000 members from scratch, managing retention and growth targets, while training content moderators, event managers, and growth marketers
● Successfully utilized Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Lightroom, and other tools to create and refine promotional content

2021 — 2022
Toronto, ON

Operations Lead

● Responsible for coordinating meetings among executive and leadership teams, ambassadors, and general members, and delegating tasks
● Executive with voting rights tasked with upholding passed resolutions and voting in the best interests of the group
● Successfully developed a fully-functional website, maintaining assets and configurations
● Routinely adjusted and helped ensure smooth continuation of group operations

2019 — 2022
Product Manager / Founder at Stealth Startup - Video Platform
Mississauga, ON

● Direct a cross-functional 8-member team to develop, implement business and marketing strategies resulting in a 43% increase in the week over week customer acquisition rates resulting in a 22% improvement in net promoter score
● Yield higher return on investment reversing underperformance by enacting agile methodology, resulting in a 40% improvement in work efficiency
● Analyze and connect with influencers in target niches, engaging in dialogue; data entry and management utilizing the Microsoft Office Suite, Mongo & Excel databases, leading to a successful beta launch in April 2021
● Ensure products meet client expectations, research, and manage client success, gather feedback, monitor rollouts, ensure quality, remain on a budget, and prepare documentation for presentation increasing monthly active user rate by 66%

2021 — 2022
Cashier/Server & Clerk at University of Toronto Mississauga Students Union
Mississauga, ON

- Facilitated the mass distribution of passes to UTM Students
- Provided logistical feedback regarding operations
- Successfully created and distributed over 10,000 passes

2022 — 2022
Mississauga, ON

Successfully undertook several roles in day-to-day assignments, assisting with UPASS distribution and cashier operation, help desk and facility operations, reception, minute taking, and liaising with different stakeholders.
● Planned meetings, managed conflicts, and assisted board members with various administrative and legislative tasks
● Managed stakeholder and media relations, handled customer orders and fielded complaints
● Researched four case files at the request of the board to identify and find solutions to pressing student issues
● Managed crises and identified issues for executive groups, monitoring opposition and flagging problems to be addressed

2017 — 2021
Mississauga, ON

● Organized 50+ library youth events, enhancing local engagement in library programming among local youth as part of the library’s Teen Advisory Group.
● Led a team of sixteen, overseeing task delegation, supply ordering, event organization, and meeting management.
● Spearheaded social media campaigns for event promotion, resulting in a 30% annual increase in attendance.
● Conducted research on event growth strategies, designed innovative event ideas, and efficiently managed a tight budget.

2020 — 2021
Mississauga, ON

Data Privacy and Integrity Initiative leader, and Council Mentor

Foster a group of 40 youth council members assisting with research, analyzing data, scheduling meetings, and acting as a liaison, coordinating with other offices to achieve members’ initiative objectives.
Key Responsibilities:
● Direct a team of 9 to research public policy and propose legislative solutions to issues facing Canadian youth pertaining to Canada’s data privacy and integrity laws.
● Communicate with fellow group mentors as a key decision-maker to transform the program
● Successfully crafted and executed comprehensive plans to increase efficiency and member satisfaction, increasing retention by 50%.

2018 — 2018
Sales Associate at Helping Hands Inc.
Toronto, ON

Contractor for Save The Children, tasked with canvassing high-traffic areas of Toronto, executing corporate marketing campaigns and collecting information from donors.
● Unified a team of 12 marketing associates; developed a clear understanding of the business objectives; evangelized the charity’s vision and built trust by maintaining an achievable plan for success.
● Succeeded in data entry, organization, and logging sales; distribution of marketing materials, evaluating donor satisfaction, and collaborating with the customer to meet campaign objectives.

2016 — 2017

Projects

Ongoing
SOC499 Peer Support in Academic Environments at University of Toronto

Building a peer-support program at the University of Toronto Mississauga, under the guidance of Professor Nathan Innocente, with the Department of Sociology.

2023

Member of the Academic Planning Task Force at the University of Toronto Mississauga, selected as the sole student member of the task force.

  • Executed mass student and stakeholder outreach campaigns, liaising and scheduling meetings with
2023
Diversifying the Curriculum - PHL499 at Department of Philosophy - University of Toronto Mississauga

Completed PHL499, a Research Opportunity Program (ROP) with Dr. Marleen Rozemond. This project was a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, which included curating a list of new, diverse philosophical works to be introduced early in the department's curriculum, to diversify the philosophical curriculum. The list of materials is intended to be introduced in first and second year philosophy courses at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Side Projects

Ongoing

Managing the Talk To A Stranger (TTAS) community, of 10,000+ Discord community members. Responsible for editing social media content, and interviewing 'strangers' for the show.

Speaking

2024
Municipal Advocacy in Mississauga at POL495, UTM
MN, University of Toronto Mississauga Campus

Invited by Professor Naomi Adiv from the University of Toronto Mississauga's Department of Political Science, to speak to my work on a public interest transit project and success in advocating for the creation of a new MiWay (Mississauga Transit) bus route serving the UTM campus.

Awards

2021
Entrance Award for Excellence from University of Toronto Mississauga
2021
Excellence in Social Sciences Commencement Award from The Woodlands Secondary School
2021
FRED AND MARY STIBY AWARD from THE CANADIAN CORPS ASSOCIATION
2019
Civic Award of Recognition from City of Mississauga
2017
Ontario Principals Council Award for Student Leadership from Ontario Principals Council

Volunteering

2019 — Now
Canada

Canvassed numerous ridings in Ontario, door knocking and making phone calls, for several Liberal candidates.

2023 — Now
Ontario

Bonnie Crombie for Leader and Premier of Ontario campaigns.

Responsible for editing social media content, photos and videos, and copywriting for social media posts. Assisting with social media management, scriptwriting and social media monitoring.

2017 — 2020
Mississauga, ON

Volunteer for several Celebration Square and library events in the city

2017 — 2019
Mississauga, ON

Occasional volunteer at a local elementary school and high school.

2017 — 2019
Mississauga, ON

Successfully undertook day-to-day help desk and facility operations, reception, standard first aid administration, administrative support, and guest support services.
● Ensured a safe, clean and welcoming environment for members by maintaining YMCA grounds
● Volunteered with youth: childminding, setting up of children’s activities, and assisting staff with program delivery
● Answered inbound calls and assisted customers with account issues, facility scheduling queries, and general information
● Provided administrative support; Maintained and improved file system, handling data entry into the customer database

2017 — 2018
Mississauga, ON

Tasked with gardening and stewardship of The Riverwood Conservatory’s 150 acres and City of Mississauga property.

Responsible for reporting faulty equipment, general grounds upkeep and maintenance.

2017 — 2017
Mississauga, ON

Volunteer Summer Camp assistant

Education

2021 — Now

HBA Student - Double major in Political Science and Sociology

  • Activities and societies: UTM Young Liberals - Field Officer
    Pre-Law Society - Member
    UTM Urbanism Club - Member

    Elected Governor for the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus Council

    Appointed Member on the University of Toronto Mississauga Academic Affairs Committee

    Student Member - UTM Academic Plan Task Force

    Research Opportunity Program Student – Department of Philosophy (PHL499Y)


    3x Dean's List Scholar
    Awarded a University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Entrance Award of Distinction
    Proctor/ Invigilator - Department of Philosophy
2019 — 2021
Bronze Cross from Lifesaving Society Canada

Contact

Website
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