Rebecca Jones

Associate Director, LLEAD Program

Managing Partner, Dysart & Jones

Few things make me happier than seeing people reach the potential that's meaningful for them. I've pursued my passion for 35+ years to supporting those working in libraries and information services to grow their skills, stretch their capabilities, and believe in themselves. We work in a fabulous sector, energized by the synergy of those in public, college, school and academic libraries, and corporate and organization-specific knowledge and information management.  

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As Managing Partner of Dysart and Jones Associates, I've led more than 100 projects with libraries, non-profits and information-intensive departments in public, academic, consortial, corporate and charitable environments in Canada and the US. Most of these projects focused on strategic planning, organizational design, conflict resolution, service reshaping and management team decision-making.

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I also felt it was important to live our clients' operational and organizational realities, so I regularly stepped into organizational management roles:

• 2015 - 2018 I was thrilled to be Director of Neighbourhood Services and Branches for Brampton Library. 

• 2004 - 2009 as Director of the Professional Learning Centre @ University of Toronto's iSchool we collaborated with Centre staff and faculty to redesign the key service offerings and Certificate Programs to blend virtual and in-class courses. We met our revenue target of $1M.

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Early in my career I worked for 11 years at Imperial Oil Ltd., where I was responsible for IT end-user training, archives, records management, and libraries. It was at IOL that I was taught to facilitate self-managing teams - which led me to where I am today.

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In 2015 Dr. Ken Haycock ​asked me if I'd work on the design and facilitation for a leadership development program he was building for BC InterLINK. What a blast - what an honour! And here we are.... join us. 

M.J. DElia

Director, LLEAD Program

CEO, Thirdway Think

Organizations rise and fall on the quality of their leadership. It’s that simple - and that’s why I love working with the LLEAD program.

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I became a rather reluctant manager when the head of our department left the organization unexpectedly. I agreed to lead our team temporarily until a suitable replacement could be found. Apparently, I enjoyed the opportunity more than I expected because I’ve been managing people and leading teams ever since.

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I am a librarian by profession, but a teacher at heart. During my career, I’ve been fortunate to teach courses in the University of Guelph’s Bachelor of Commerce program, in the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University, and in the Faculty of Management at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan). I have found that the best way to learn something is to try to teach it to someone else. For me, the classroom environment, whether onsite or online, offers a perfect laboratory to experiment with different techniques and approaches. Instructing thousands of students over the years taught me the importance of staying curious, asking good questions, and taking calculated risks.

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LLEAD is a perfect blend of my passions: teaching, entrepreneurship, and leadership development. Designing the curriculum, defining signature learning experiences, and coaching emerging leaders are three of my most favourite things. If the most important job of a leader is to identify and grow the next generation of leaders, then count me in.