KPU’s new president brings transformational leadership to the university

Kwantlen Polytechnic University appointed Bruce Choy as its new president and vice-chancellor, who began his term early last month. Choy took the reins from former president Alan Davis, who held the position for over a decade. 

Choy has had a career in both the private and post-secondary sectors.

In addition to being an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto (U of T) and chair of the George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology’s board of governors, Choy is also an expert in governance and risk management. He is also the director of Shinhan Bank Canada and board governor of The Long Run Institute, a corporate and public policy think tank. 

Previously, Choy worked as a senior executive at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and a managing director at the Global Risk Institute. 

Choy holds a doctorate for his research on mathematics for risk management from the University of Sydney and was an R.A. Priddle medallist for the institution’s Faculty of Engineering.

A Sloan Fellow from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Choy taught finance at the U of T before starting his term as KPU’s president.

When I reached out to Choy for an interview, what I had in mind was the usual, customary routine that any journalist follows before conducting an interview — do background research, prepare a few questions, and show up. But just about a week before the interview, Choy had something else in mind. 

As I made my way to KPU’s Surrey campus gymnasium for the first time, The Runner’s photo editor, Diego Minor Martínez, and I, found ourselves in an empty basketball court with the last bit of daylight escaping the window panels and lighting the KPU Eagles panel printed in burgundy across the floor.

Right in front of the bleachers, in the middle of the court, was KPU Sport and Recreation Programs Coordinator Chris Delahson setting up thick and cushioned royal blue mats and tying them up together. 

Just a few minutes later, Choy walked in with Wilson School of Design (WSD) Dean Andhra Goundrey. The two were dressed in white judo attire with a black belt tied neatly on their waists. Both belts were embroidered in a bright yellow print.

Judo, which stems from the foundations of jujutsu, is a gentle form of the martial art that uses the aggression of souls for self-defense. It relies on using the force of the opponent and taking advantage to work against the other person. 

“There’s a lot of peace about the spiritual aspect,” Goundrey says. 

Choy, who practises Aikido, which is another Japanese martial art with roots in jujutsu, says that despite being different, the discipline is quite similar to judo in the way that it places importance on harmonizing energy. 

While judo is competitive, some dangerous techniques like finger, wrist, and some forms of elbow locks are restricted. Aikido, in comparison, allows the techniques in place of competitions.

Specifically, the character “ai” means harmony, “ki” is energy, and “do” is path or way, Choy wrote in an email to The Runner.

Budo, which is an umbrella term and overarching philosophy for all styles of Japanese martial arts, translates to martial way or path. Both Choy and Goundrey are planning to start a KPU Budo club, in addition to offering women’s self-defence workshops at the institution. 

From a female perspective, Goundrey says learning Budo techniques would help women feel more confident when they are out. 

“We’re not big, you see the two of us, we’re definitely on the smaller, lighter end,” Choy says. “[But] it’s actually amazing, once you get over that fear of something bigger, scarier … [the fear] starts to all disappear.”

Choy, who has been practising Aikido for the last 27 years, is a fourth-dan black belt accredited from Japan, in addition to coaching qualifications for Aikido. Goundrey, a judo black belt, has family roots in judo, with her grandfather bringing the martial art to British Columbia from Japan. 

Choy first met Goundrey when he was interviewing for the role of the president at KPU. Goundrey, who was tasked with giving tours to all presidential candidates, guided Choy around the WSD. As they got to know each other, both Choy and Goundrey found out that they are black belts. 

“I wanted to make sure that I told the whole story about KPU … and give a little bit of background, and so that the candidates would be interested in us, too,” she says. 

Choy also got to tour the KPU Tech campus in Cloverdale with Faculty of Trades and Technology Dean Laura McDonald. The private tours were a big part of why Choy decided to come to KPU, he says, because he got to know the representatives and connect with them personally. 

Choy also had a dojo when he was in Sydney, which he had started up with three friends who were also instructors. Travelling for his job had made the dojo unfeasible to maintain, however, doing workshops at KPU, he says, would be more suitable with the time and travel constraints associated with his presidential duties. 

Goundrey says that judo is a philosophy she uses for everything she does. In her second year as dean of the WSD, she realized she needed to be more comfortable with who she was, and while it can often be hard to be a quiet and reflective person, she says it’s what she found suits her best. 

She adds that the martial art helps her maneuver the challenges she faces in an authentic and reflective manner. 

Goundrey took on the role of dean in 2020 after being a member of the KPU community for over 25 years. A student in the fashion and technology program, Goundrey graduated from the institution in 1996 before returning in 2001 as a faculty member. 

Choy says practising Aikido helps him become comfortable in falling and getting back up — something he is going to do here at KPU.

“I love falling,” Choy says. “You fall down all the time. It’s getting up. If you are afraid, then you won’t experiment. If you’re afraid, you won’t innovate or make a mistake. You’re just going to collapse.”

A lot of change will come through at the institution as a result of external economic situations, Choy says, adding the university is going to try different solutions, some of which will work, while others might not. 

“If I have a situation where the culture is that we do not try anything until we’re 100 per cent certain it’s going to work, we’re not going to try anything.”

Choy, who has been in his role for a little over two months now, says he will give himself a couple of months to familiarize himself with the strengths and purposes of the institution and the strategic direction the university will take to update its plan. 

“I am not a white knight that has come in to say, ‘This is the way we’re going,’” he says. “That’s not the leadership style I have. I want to actually try to empower the deans, the people who are the front face to the students.”

“A student does not know who the president is. Students know who their dean is.”

Choy adds that the deans are the ones with the ideas, which will help give shape to KPU’s strategic plan, and getting them more empowered is his priority at the moment. Rather than dictating, he says he is in his listening stage for the time being. 

In terms of governance structure and regulation in KPU administration, Choy says the risk-adverse regulation system at the institution has often resulted in preventing innovation and productivity at the institution.  

“One thing I want to do is to remove some of the red tape. We’ve got strong governance to the extent that it’s choking us.”

As a finance professor with a background in governance, Choy says something he found from his teachings is that testing every piece of regulation can be destructive. 

“You basically have to take a risk that there might still be a dodgy piece of fruit that goes out to market.” 

He says the issue with testing every regulation to see if it’s safe is that it prevents everything from going out. 

“If it takes us two years to approve a course, we’ve completely lost the window,” Choy says. “[This] was fine in the 1980s and 1990s, when technology didn’t move as fast as it does, but we need to get ourselves a system that actually meets the market demand.” 

This is a vision Goundrey agrees with in her work as the dean. While there are rules in place to maneuver regulation, she says it’s also important to think about how governance and administration can be nimble in their work. 

“Sometimes when trying to get things done quickly, I think I turned myself into a constructive irritant,” she says. 

For Goundrey, showcasing her students’ work, having supportive faculty, and industry connections is an important part of her job and vision for KPU. 

Choy says that these industry partnerships are critical as students go out into a “depressed economic situation.” He adds that he wants to avoid a situation where a student joins KPU and graduates in a worse situation as compared to when they started their post-secondary journey.  

Choy says the post-secondary sector is undergoing a massive transformation, which is why he wants to do things differently and “transform with the times.” 

“If we stay and do exactly what we were doing in the past, we’ll be dead. It’d be a slow death, but it will be death by a 1,000 cuts.” 

As someone who has been placed into roles in the past as a “transformation agent,” Choy says part of the reason he took on the role of KPU’s president was that he wanted to transform the institution for the better. 

“If it was a business-as-usual role, I wouldn’t have taken it, wouldn’t have had an interest.”

Choy wants to get “on-the-ground information” and says his title is one of his biggest disadvantages in the sense that as soon as he enters a room, “everyone puts on a suit of armour.” 

“Having people who I can talk to quite openly and honestly, without the rank, is gold to me to determine where we are going to be in the future,” he says.

Choy started his career as an academic in the 1990s and says this role is a way for him to come back to his home environment. 

“I started my life teaching students and doing research. It’s kind of nice now, not actually doing the teaching or research itself, but managing or administrating people who are doing that type of role.”

Choy aims to create a safe environment at KPU where students aren’t afraid of experimenting, failing, and finding solutions — things they might not be able to do in their jobs. 

“A lot of students come in without trying to stretch themselves. They try and conform, but this is probably one of the few periods in your whole life where conforming isn’t actually going to maximize the value of your time here at KPU,” he says.