Ajay Patel

Ajay Patel was confirmed as Vancouver Community College (VCC) president on January 24, 2020 and comes with more than 17 years of post-secondary experience. He first joined VCC in May 2019 as Vice-President, Enterprise and International Development, took on the role of interim president in September 2019.

Ajay was recruited from Langara College, where he was Vice-President, External Development. In that position, he was responsible for Langara’s College Advancement and the Langara Foundation, as well as for Communications and Marketing, Continuing Studies, Institutional Research, and International Education. He particularly distinguished himself for his strategic leadership and for his inspiration and support for students, employees, and the whole community.

Born in Fiji, Ajay moved to Canada in 1975 at age 6, and grew up in East Vancouver. After graduating from the VCC Human Kinetics program in 1992, he had a distinguished and award-winning career in British Columbia’s amateur and competitive sports community. Ajay was Chief Executive Officer first of Badminton BC then Gymnastic BC, and for 12 years he served as Chef de Mission of Team BC for the Canada Winter and Summer Games. During this period, Ajay also served on the Sport BC Board, the BC Recreation and Parks Association, Vancouver Sport for Life, the Vancouver Active Communities Network Steering Committee, the BC Athlete Voice Board of Directors, the Coaching Association of British Columbia, the 2010 BC Wheelchair Basketball World Championships Bid Committee, the British Columbia Sport and Recreation Leadership Council, and as a director for SBC Insurance. Additionally, Ajay was the Chair for the Vancouver Sport Strategy and sat on the City of Vancouver Healthy City for All Leadership Table.

In 2001, Ajay moved into the post-secondary world as a Kinesiology instructor at Langara College, where for the next two decades, he rose through a series of increasingly influential positions. He became Chair of the Kinesiology Department, Division Chair in Health Sciences, Dean of International Education, Associate Vice-President, International and External Development and, finally, Vice-President External Development.

As a provincial leader in the international education sector, Ajay is excited that VCC will hosting the University Mobility in Asia Pacific (UMAP) International Secretariat (IS) role for the next five years. Ajay serves as the Board Chair, Canadian Bureau for International Education and was honoured with the BC Council for International Education Distinguished Leadership Award in 2019. He now serves on the College and Institutes of Canada’s International Advisory Committee and the Creative Technology Education Committee for DigiBC. Ajay has also received numerous other awards including the City of Vancouver Parks and Recreation’s Volunteer of the Year and the Sport BC President’s Award.

At VCC, one of Ajay’s priorities will be to implement the Campus Master Plan, a capital project designed to guide VCC’s development over the next 10 years.

Ajay earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Kinetics from the University of British Columbia.