Joan Yates

Board Chair, Victoria Hospitals Foundation

Joan Yates had a thirty-plus year career in post secondary education in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. This has included extensive experience serving as Vice President for College Advancement; Communications and Marketing; Strategic Planning; Student Affairs; as Executive Director of a Foundation; as Dean of Business and as a long time business faculty member teaching Communications; Business Strategy; Marketing and Public Relations.

As a senior communications specialist, she has held positions with local and national governance bodies including national president of the Canadian Public Relations Society and has received awards and recognition for her work in planning new governance structures and developing a curriculum model now in use in several Canadian post secondary institutes. Her tenure in Student Services saw innovative and expanded approaches to services for students needing accessible learning; policy and support related to sexualised violence; and mental health supports.

She has international experience having lived and worked in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Joan has an M.Ed. in adult education; and holds an APR. She is a lifetime member of the Canadian Public Relations Society. She has been a board member in organizations related to arts; education; women’s health; and social advocacy.

She is a recent retiree, living in Victoria with her husband Chris Graham and is proud of her daughter who works as a nurse on the Island.

Joan joined the Victoria Hospitals Foundation Board of Directors in 2023.