| Job Title: | Program Officer |
| Employer: | Government of Canada |
| Grad Year: | 1999 |
| Degree(s): | B.A. |
| Major(s): | History, Political Science |
| Expertise: | Parliamentary Affairs |
| Industry: | Public Service |
What makes you a good mentor?
I love to share my experiences with anyone that I have a connection with. I loved my time at Carleton so much because I did everything while I was there. I served on the Carleton University Students' Association for 4 years, University Senate for 2 years, Department of Political Science and Faculty of Public Affairs and Management boards for 4 years, I wrote over 250 articles for all three campus publications that were around during my time, I was a member of 24 clubs and societies including president of 3 while attending Carleton and I got my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History as well. When I graduated, I was published in a book, "The Students' Guide to Canadian Universities" (Key Porter Books, 1999) and was the author of the section on Carleton University. If anyone wants to know anything about Carleton, I have learned so much over the years and still continue to enjoy what Carleton has to offer.
About Ryan Ward
For the past 22 years I have worked for the Government of Canada in Toronto, Barrie and now Ottawa. I have worked at a Call Centre, Tax Office and now with Headquarters in various capacities. During my time, I was seconded to the United Way of Greater Toronto for six months as a Sponsored Employee, where I got to work with 24 Government of Canada accounts, helping them raise money as part of the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign and I have been the coordinator of the GCWCC 4 times in my life including the last two times in 2020 and 2021. In this capacity, I have coordinated a team of staff putting together events for the employees of my offices in person and since the pandemic, virtually, while focusing on ways to raise money to achieve our goal for the year (in 2020 we doubled our goal and in 2021 despite the pandemic, we raise 120%).
I have also been the coordinator of our Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, where we liaise with community groups who offer tax clinics for low-income Canadians and I was able to supervise a staff who conducted training for the volunteers on how to prepare an income tax return through the tax software and by paper as well.
I have worked in Client Services, Collections and on Special Projects during my career and have spent most of it as an instructor in the various areas I’ve worked. In addition, I worked as a webmaster in our Public Affairs Branch, where I wrote HTML for our Infozone.
Besides my formal career, I have been heavily involved in politics for most of my life (I started when I was 12 years old on my first campaign) and have held positions including Campaign Manager, Advisor, Communications, Volunteer Coordinator, Election Day (GOTV) Chair and many positions within various Riding Associations as well.
Since I was in high school, I have also been writing and designing anything I can. I have written over 500 articles for various newspapers, magazines, web sites and anything else that I can write on (including my blog at www.ryansworld.ca). During my time at Carleton, I wrote over 250 articles for The Charlatan, This Week at / Is Carleton Magazine and The Resin.
In my personal life I like to read and write quite a bit. I am currently working on a “Choose your own adventure” web page that I’d like to get out in 2023 and I spend quite a bit of time working on campaigns and riding association work as President of my Associations. I also fundraise for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. For the past 22 years, I have raised over $40,000 during my time to help find a cure for Crohn’s Disease.
For most of my life I have always loved to travel. My goal is to travel the world. I love photography and have now taken over 500,000 photo’s of everywhere I’ve been, anything that I love, and interesting things that I see. Most recently, I purchased my first home in Vanier and have been spending so much time making it as awesome as it can be.