Much like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, Alex Judd seems like your soft-spoken sweetheart, very approachable and easy to please. But don’t underestimate her tenacity when it comes to taking care of business. Although she may be quieter than most, Judd goes above and beyond her role as Students’ Union vice-president of operations and finance. In times of high stress, she ensures everything is running smoothly and efficiently within the SU’s budget, overseeing $25 million in assets and over $12 million of annual revenues.
Before becoming a vice-president representative of the SU, Judd was an operations and finance commissioner for two years. An active member of multiple clubs, she was also committed to the Women Resource Centre, Campus Recreation Committee, University International Grants Committee and Teaching Excellence Award Committee. Her familiarity with the SU’s diverse programs and services has inspired her to move beyond the scope of business and operations-related tasks successfully.
Judd identified her top three priorities as being student space, infrastructure, and clubs and diversity. First, she works with the external portfolio and the university to address short- and long-term solutions concerning the space crisis on campus. She also interacts more with clubs and utilize Club Survival Seminars and Clubs’ Week to promote more scholarships and committee opportunities to students. Because the SU doesn’t have a diversity policy, Judd also plans to develop and implement a SU diversity policy. This was one of her original goals, but she hasn’t yet found the time to get it started. In doing so, she hopes she can share ideas with student clubs and other university organizations to make a variety of programs and opportunities available on campus.
A person of many interests, Judd is most proud of her commitment to sustainability initiatives. Part of this involves eliminating non-biodegradable Styrofoam on campus, replacing harsh chemicals with green cleaners and introducing the Campus Composting Pilot Project which encourages U of C students, staff and food vendors to compost organic solid wastes. Currently, she chairs the Students’ Union Sustainability Board and hosts Green Cafe to raise awareness about students’ sustainability projects. This was an unexpected accomplishment that she should be proud of.
Her future plans include finishing the SU’s new vision care package which will be added to students’ dental and health plans, helping CJSW being able to go to tender and renovating the What’s Up space.
So far, Judd hasn’t received any major criticism from her commissioners. Most describe her as a well-organized, patient and thoughtful person. No matter how hectic her schedule may be, she always finds time to answer questions, offer advice and help commissioners with their pet projects. The only weakness that was mentioned was delegating her work to commissioners as she tends to be overcommitted to new on-campus projects.