Thomas Ryan

Professor, teacher, and author

Dr. Thomas Ryan grew up in Georgetown, Ontario but his attraction to sports and hockey brought him to the Northwest in 1981 where he enrolled in Lakehead's Physical Education program and played for the Lakehead University Nor-Westers hockey team. Thom quickly immersed himself in campus life working as the LUSU Sound Manager, deejaying at events and serving as the President of Atikokan House residence. This capacity to do many different things well has made Thom into a leading educational theorist. Fortuitously, Lakehead was also the place where Thom met his wife, Leslie, who was studying social work.

After graduating in 1985 with an Honours Bachelor of Physical Education and a Bachelor of Education, Thom taught briefly in Thunder Bay area high schools before moving to the Kingfisher Lake Reserve to teach academic upgrading through Confederation College. This experience prompted him to obtain a Master of Education in Indian and Northern Education at the University of Saskatchewan in 1988. From 1987 to 2000, Thom worked as a substitute teacher, special educator, and physical educator at elementary and secondary schools throughout southern Ontario. He also successfully pursued a Doctorate of Education at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (2001).

Thom was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Lethbridge's Faculty of Education in 2000. During this period he also began working as an on-line professor with Campus Alberta Applied Psychology. In 2002, Thom felt the urge to return to Ontario and he accepted a position at the University of Nipissing in North Bay where he is now an Associate Professor in the physical and health education program.

Thom's nomadic lifestyle and sense of spontaneity is matched by the breadth of his research interests. His desire to instill teaching excellence and facilitate professional development led him to publish three books: The Reflexive Classroom Manager, The Reflexive Physical Educator, and The Reflexive Special Educator. These handbooks provide a peek inside different aspects of teaching and The Reflexive Classroom Manager, now in its second edition, has been published all over the world. Thom has also contributed chapters to books such as Passing the Test: A Book of Readings on Provincial, National and International Testing in Canadian Public Schools and is lead author of Canadian Educational Leadership. He has an impressive list of articles that have appeared in national and international journals such as The New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work.

Thom's intellectual curiosity is often piqued by his students’ research topics. He has delved into many key issues in contemporary education and is currently examining the phenomenon of cyberbullying. Thom plans to explore ethics education in his next book which will focus on ethics, values, and decision-making, or as he puts it, "doing the right thing." Dr. Thomas Ryan has become an important voice in the field of educational philosophy and practice and he credits Lakehead University for providing an essential part of the foundation of his career development. In his words, "Lakehead gave me a lot of good food for my mind."

Poh Lam Tan

Business Leader

Poh Lam Tan doesn't let himself be constrained by limits - a very useful talent in the marketing field. His ability to see potential in overlooked areas has brought success to his business ventures and transformed him into a major force in the Asian entertainment industry.

Poh Lam's adaptability and diverse interests became evident early in his life. He was on Singapore's national badminton team and completed his national service in the Singapore Navy. After his stint in the Navy, Poh Lam traveled across the world to attend university at Lakehead because he "wanted to do something different and had heard many wonderful things about Canada." Although unfamiliar with Canadian culture, Poh Lam threw himself into academic and social life with enthusiasm. He graduated with a Bachelor of Administration in 1980 and returned to Singapore to begin his career.

Poh Lam's first major job was as Brand Manager for Coca-Cola and 7-Up with the food and beverage company, Fraser & Neave. In 1982, he joined Liebermann Overseas as the Group Product Manager and put his knack for promotion to use marketing European luxury goods. By 1987, however, Poh Lam was looking for a new challenge. He began working for Warner Home Video, the video distribution arm of American entertainment giant Time-Warner. Poh Lam quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder, managing ever larger areas of Asia and the Middle East as the Vice-President, Asia.

His experiences in the entertainment industry made Poh Lam believe that Singapore's home video market wasn’t being fully tapped into, so he left the security of Warner Home Video and formed his own company, Alliance Entertainment Asia (AEA) in 2000. AEA distributes videos for companies such as Warner Bros, MGM and 20th Century Fox and it also operates a chain of Video Ezy movie sale and rental outlets. Poh Lam acquired the franchise rights for Video Ezy, an Australian-based company, in 2001. His gamble paid off and AEA now brings in approximately $12 million US annually.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Poh Lam embarked on a different direction in 2007 when he acquired the Singapore and Thailand licensing rights for various Learning and Motivation Programs for students from Quantum Learning Network USA. QLN conducts SuperCamp, which provides innovative educational programs for children to build life skills and foster academic development. This coincides with Poh Lam’s growing interest in focusing on health and happiness and his wish that his son and daughter "become good and socially responsible people and appreciate that money and material things are not everything."

By taking the unconventional approach and seeing things with a fresh perspective, Poh Lam has found both personal and professional success. He says his sojourn at Lakehead nurtured his career development and "significantly contributed to my confidence and ability to socialize and interact with all kinds of people."  It is Poh Lam Tan's combination of an entrepreneurial spirit with a deep commitment to treating people with fairness that has made him such a respected figure in the business world.