Previous KSA president allegedly hired friend as executive director

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Kwantlen Student Association Executive Director (ED) Timothii Ragavan is allegedly friends with 2023-24 KSA President Abdullah Randhawa, who oversaw the hiring of Ragavan, according to an email thread sent anonymously to The Runner. 

The email was initiated on Dec. 6 by David Borins of the KSA’s previous legal counsel which was addressed to Randhawa. It states concerns Borins had about Ragavan being hired as ED, including his alleged pre-existing relationship to Randhawa and “not [being] a qualified candidate.” The email thread was printed off and placed on all the seats at the KSA’s annual general meeting (AGM) last month. 

“You had previously advised me in September 2023 … that Timothii Ragavan is a friend of yours,” Borins wrote.  

“We have lost confidence in all, or at least some, of the KSA’s directors’ willingness to properly and appropriately manage the affairs of the society in accordance with their legal obligations. Accordingly, we can no longer serve as KSA counsel and provide you with notice that we are withdrawing our services effective immediately.” 

Randhawa denied the allegations and says he has “no clue” why Borins wrote this in the email.

“I clearly said at the AGM also that it was a misconception,” Randhawa says in an interview with The Runner. “I had no conflict on that thing, and why would I have such conflict? What is benefiting me? I’m done with the KSA, I’m done with my studies, and I’m leaving KPU. I have nothing to do with it anymore.”

Ragavan was appointed ED at the Dec. 8 council meeting, which the council’s ED search committee oversaw. The committee was created by the council following the resignation of past ED Parveen Sehra on June 2 to fill the position. Randhawa says himself along with 2023-24 council members Manraj Grewal, Asad Husain, Gurtejpreet Kaur Kaliyan, and Jashanpreet Singh Maan were nominated and appointed by the council to be on the ED search committee. 

The KSA hired Chris Girodat, executive director of Capilano University’s student union, as a consultant to guide the ED search committee, in which he developed the ED job requirements and listed the job posting on different platforms, Randhawa says. By September, 30 to 35 people had applied for the position and Girodat shortlisted five candidates, Randhawa says.

During this time, Randhawa allegedly tried to influence the hiring process. 

“You admitted that your conduct in attempting to influence Mr. Girodat, and others, to see Mr. Ragavan be hired as ED, was inappropriate,” Borins wrote. 

Richard Hall was one of the candidates Girodat had shortlisted and was hired for the position in mid-September, but was fired by KSA council a couple of months later. No reason was stated for Hall’s dismissal. 

According to the email statement, Randhawa allegedly told Borins in December the ED search committee was only considering candidates Girodat had previously shortlisted when looking to fill the position. 

“As you are aware, Mr. Ragavan was not short-listed,” Borins wrote. 

“In fact, he was rejected as an ED candidate by Mr. Girodat for lacking experience and because Mr. Girodat felt that Mr. Ragavan had exaggerated his experience on his resume by claiming to have held Executive Director positions in the past when he clearly had not.” 

Randhawa says the committee contacted Girodat’s remaining shortlisted candidates and a few responded, but they didn’t meet the job parameters, which were “early joining and less compensation.”

“When Parveen was over here, at that time, I don’t know why, [her pay] was set up to like 20k per month,” Randhawa says, adding that the 2022-23 council had set her wage. “Our decision was to lower it as much as we can, and we did it. We brought it back to normal.”

Randhawa couldn’t share what the current ED salary is, but he says the pay was cut almost in 

half. The Runner reached out to Lesli Sangha, vice president finance and operations for the 2022-23 term and current students with disabilities representative, for a comment on Sehra’s alleged pay. 

“Council cannot comment on the hiring specifics of employee contracts, and it’s legally unadvisable for Council to do so,” Sangha wrote in an email statement to The Runner. 

“We had a sudden leadership crisis, and the KSA needed someone to manage the operations and the employees of the organization. It was a Council decision, and I physically signed the contract because I was doing my role as VP of Finance & Operations.”

The ED search committee then looked at all the applications they received in September and reviewed it on their own, Randhawa says, to which they interviewed Ragavan and hired him.  

“We just went with the [candidate] who we felt was right. … We totally stand with that decision, even today.”

Ragavan previously told The Runner he had spent the last few years working at non-profit Building4Change which is based in Toronto, where he used to live before moving to B.C. for the KSA ED position. Before that, Ragavan said he worked as an executive director at Lalitha Jewellers in Toronto for six years.  

The Runner reached out to Building4Change President Abdullah Sally and confirmed Ragavan’s employment as executive director. 

“He also had the role of the lead in finance and he was leading a couple of our non-profit organization projects as well,” Sally says. 

“Timothii’s involvement is still going on. Last time he came home to visit his family for Easter, he took lead in another project with giving food for the homeless and in the local neighborhood that he lives in.”

The Runner reached out to Ragavan for a comment on the email thread and the allegations about his work experience, but declined to comment. 

The email thread also raised concerns that Ragavan was a pre-selected candidate and the ED search committee oversaw his hiring while “excluding Mr. Girodat and any external advisers from assisting with the process.” 

“It is remarkable that, this time around, the very same candidate would again be selected as the KSA’s new Executive Director only days after the termination of an Executive Director who had only been in the position for just over two months,” Borins wrote.  

Randhawa says they didn’t consult with Girodat because they needed to complete the hiring process as quickly as possible as council can’t conduct business without an ED and they were about to take a break come Dec. 15.

“We already used [Girodat’s] services [in September], which was just to finalize the candidates, the other decision was on the council members. We don’t want anyone to be influencing us on making a decision,” he says. 

Following the legal counsel’s departure from the KSA, Kwantlen Polytechnic University President Alan Davis wrote a letter to Randhawa on Dec. 8, expressing concerns about the association’s operations, which The Runner anonymously received. 

“At the time of writing, I understand the KSA is without an Executive Director, Speaker of Council, Chief Returning Officer, and legal counsel. These positions support the KSA with important powers and duties that facilitate the society’s ability to fulfill [it’s] obligations…,” Davis wrote. 

“I am therefore seeking your commitment, backed with a clear plan and timeline, that decisive action will be taken to fulfill the KSA’s criticall legal, governance and administrative responsibilities.” 

The letter also states that if the KSA doesn’t respond to Davis’ request or falls through with its proposed plan, KPU would have to consider “whether the KSA remains able to meet the needs of its members, [KPU] students” and “if it cannot, KPU will examine all options open to it.” 

“The university has concerns, and we already addressed the concerns. After that, there were no more concerns from the university’s side,” Randhawa says. 

Borins and Girodat both declined to comment.