Three generations of support

When Jeff Bryson, ‘03 BCom, was completing his after degree in the Alberta School of Business, he spent a summer working on the construction site for the expansion of the Stollery Executive Development Centre, a multi-use space located on the fifth floor of the Business building.

While Bryson recalls that he “spent most of that summer just jackhammering,” he also had a deeper connection to the project. The funding, both to establish the space in 1984 and to expand it in 1999, came from his grandparents, local philanthropists Robert and Shirley Stollery, who passed away in 2007 and 2011, respectively.

Now, more than 20 years later, Bryson is involved with another update – this time as executive director of the Stollery Charitable Foundation, which is funding significant technology upgrades throughout the space.

A philanthropic vision

The Stollery name is well known in Edmonton, particularly from the Stollery Children’s Hospital, which is one of the top three most specialized children’s hospitals in Canada. Along with the hospital, the Stollery’s vision also included the creation of their charitable foundation in 1999.

“The intent of the Foundation was to support the community that supported our family, particularly my grandparents and their success,” says Bryson. “It was also to engage family members in philanthropy and volunteerism, and to make them aware of needs in their own community.”

The Foundation is now overseen by a board of second and third generation family members. They fund a wide range of projects in their home communities of Edmonton, Kamloops and Vancouver, with a focus on health, social services (especially poverty reduction projects), education and human rights.

Supporting the U of A

Bryson notes that his grandparents were longstanding supporters of the U of A after his grandfather’s graduation from the Faculty of Engineering, making many personal contributions before the Foundation was created. That’s one of the reasons the family felt it was important to reach out to the Alberta School of Business to find out if the Stollery Executive Development Centre was still meeting the needs of students and staff.

After discovering the space was in need of technological upgrades to better support 21st century learning needs, the Foundation donated over $200,000 to the School for this purpose.

“We wanted to help improve the student experience and also to ensure a space that’s named after my grandparents – and that they made two previous commitments to support – continues to be maintained at a level that meets current demands,” says Bryson.

Renovations will begin this spring and are expected to be complete by the end of July.