“I couldn’t believe it when I heard that MOSAIC had landed Joan Andersen as a director in 2009.” Those words were spoken by Baldwin Wong, Multicultural Social Planner for the City of Vancouver at Andersen’s farewell event held earlier in May. Baldwin added that Mayor Gregor Robertson would also have attended the EVENT if his schedule had allowed because of the high regard that the City officials have for the woman who was Board Chair for the Vancouver Public Library from 2003-2011.
Andersen joined MOSAIC after 30 years at the CBC, where she rose through the ranks to become one of the top executives before her leaving the crown corporation. She then took on the demanding post of leading the employment and languages divisions at MOSAIC.
Amongst her many achievements, highlights from Andersen’s eight years at MOSAIC include having won the contract to operate the Northeast (Work BC) Employment Services Centre, making MOSAIC the first and only settlement organization in BC to operate the provincial service which assists all jobseekers. The departing director was very successful in bringing together partnerships to include government, employers, post-secondary institutions and other community agencies. Since the fall of 2015, Andersen also pioneered unique programs for refugees to assist them with finding employment quickly.
While at MOSAIC, Andersen was the recipient of the David Hutson Leadership Award, for demonstrating exemplary leadership in the community-based training sector. She will be pursuing contract work during the next phase of her career.
Eyob Naizghi praised Andersen for her tireless and determined efforts on behalf of the clients in her division, as well as her leadership of staff, and her contribution to the executive leadership of the organization. “She will be greatly missed.”
Succeeding Joan Andersen as Director of Employment and Language Services is Michael Radano, who takes over the reins on June 1st.
