Justin Kohlman will take on the role of President and CEO of Grande Prairie Regional College in November (Photo: Shaun Penner / EverythingGP staff)

By Shaun Penner

Incoming President & CEO

Team unity, community connections key in GPRC transition to polytechnic: Kohlman

Aug 12, 2021 | 1:14 PM

Grande Prairie Regional College’s incoming President and CEO says building a strong internal culture, along with strong community connections is going to be key in the school’s transition to polytechnic status.

Justin Kohlman sat down with EverythingGP Thursday morning, a week after it was announced he would be taking on the role from interim President and CEO Dr. Glenn Feltham in November.

Kohlman comes to GPRC having served the past two years as the President and CEO at Coast Mountain College in Terrace, B.C. He says his experience in Terrace translates well to GPRC amid its transition.

“Going to Coast Mountain College was a great opportunity, because we went there, we renamed it (from Northwest Community College), we developed a new vision, we developed an international program, we significantly increased our enrolment of students,” explained Kohlman.

“Those are a lot of the same challenges and opportunities we have here.”

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Kohlman’s post-secondary leadership experience did not begin in Terrace, as previous to that he held leadership roles with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), University of Victoria, and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia over a combined 15-year period.

In that time, he says he has learned a strong internal culture is vital to the success of any organization.

Kohlman points to Canada’s recent gold medal in women’s soccer at the Tokyo Olympics as a prime example of how he is hoping to lead.

“The analogy I would use is Christine Sinclair led Team Canada to a gold medal last week, but she did it without scoring a goal. She did it by bringing everybody up on the team,” he said. “I think that’s exactly what I want to do… How can we get everybody involved? Get this whole team moving in the same direction?

“I think if we can create a unified vision of where we want to go, how we want to be part of this community, and where we want to go with the polytechnic status, I think we have got some amazing opportunities to win a gold medal of our own.”

Along with crafting a strong internal culture, Kohlman says he also first wants to build a shared vision of GPRC’s future as a polytechnic and degree-granting institution.

“The status in itself is an opportunity, but the question is how do we want to use that opportunity? I think it is an important discussion for all of us to have,” said Kohlman.

“What we want to do is make it clear that we are going in that direction (to polytechnic status), figure out what that looks like, figure out what our goals are going to be, get everybody excited about a shared vision, and then get paddling in the same direction.”

From there, Kohlman hopes to reach out and build a strong connection with local leaders and the business community, to find what are the needs of industry, and how the school can address them, such as the ongoing skilled labour shortage in the region.

However, Kohlman believes GPRC can lend a hand to local industry beyond that.

“One of the big advantages of polytechnic is it is going to allow us to do more research that is really going to help industry,” said Kohlman.

“If we can figure out what are the problems industry is trying to solve? And then how can our students be involved in coming up with those solutions? I think that could be really, really exciting.”

Kohlman will move to Grande Prairie later this year with his wife and two children.

Dr. Feltham will continue to serve as interim President and CEO until Kohlman takes on the role in November.