University operations · Systems · Canada

17 buildings.
94 people. $2.8M budget.

Strategic leadership across a 17-building precinct with a 94 FTE unionised team and a $2.8M operational budget. Championed end-to-end EventPro implementation, automated reporting, standardised SOPs and chaired cross-campus operations across IT, security, facilities, catering and the Dean of Students.

SystemsUniversity OperationsAccessibility

University of Toronto

Emmanuel College, Victoria University at U of Toronto — one of the 17 buildings in JJ's ancillary services portfolio

17

Buildings

94

FTE unionised team

$2.8M

Operational budget

100%

H&S compliance

01Chapter

Context

University of Toronto ancillary services — a 17-building precinct spanning graduations, guest-lecture series, the Toronto International Festival of Authors and daily campus operations. Predictable staff turnover was already an operational risk.

Victoria University campus building — part of JJ's 17-building portfolio
02Chapter

Starting situation

A 94 FTE unionised team, a $2.8M operational budget, and workflows scattered across email threads, tribal memory and legacy tools. Cross-campus coordination happened in parallel silos: IT, security, facilities, catering, Dean of Students.

Victoria University staff team
03Chapter

Scale & constraints

Unionised workforce (with all the change-management discipline that implies). 24/7 on-call readiness. Zero-tolerance H&S environment. Any change had to be deliverable inside existing collective-agreement terms.

Victoria University security team — part of the 24/7 on-call operation
04Chapter

Actions & systems

Configured Eventpro to the institutional context. Authored SOPs and video training manuals for staff and student associations. Introduced automated reporting so leaders steered from data, not anecdote. Chaired weekly cross-campus operations meetings — IT, security, facilities, catering, Dean of Students — turning silos into a single decision cadence.

Eventpro implementation training session
05Chapter

Measured result

100% H&S compliance across the portfolio. Toronto International Festival of Authors delivered end-to-end. Cross-campus decisions consolidated into one weekly meeting cadence. Reference from the Business Manager available on request.

Toronto Black Film Festival event, delivered with the Victoria University team
06Chapter

Attribution & evidence

Business Manager reference contactable directly. SOP library, video training and weekly reporting artefacts available under NDA. Union-side references available with prior notice.

Victoria University events team dinner
07Chapter

Sustainability

SOP library and video training remain in use. Weekly operations cadence continues under the next Business Manager. The system was designed to survive the person who built it — and it has.

Victoria University residential team — the operation continues after handover
08Chapter

Related service

This is the operating pattern behind the Workflow & AI Readiness Review and the Interim Program & Operations Leadership engagements — mapping institutional knowledge, codifying workflows, and installing a single decision cadence.

See the AI Readiness Review

Portfolio of buildings

Some of the 17 buildings
I stewarded.

A snapshot of the Victoria College precinct at the University of Toronto — the physical scale behind the 94-FTE ancillary services operation.

Emmanuel College building at Victoria University, U of Toronto

Emmanuel College

Victoria College · U of T

Victoria College dining hall interior

Ned's Café dining hall

Victoria College · U of T

Isabel Bader Theatre auditorium

Isabel Bader Theatre

Victoria College · U of T

Burwash Residence building

Burwash Residence

Victoria College · U of T

Old Vic building and grounds

Old Vic (grounds)

Victoria College · U of T

Institutional-scale operations don't fail because of talent. They fail because knowledge lives in inboxes.

Jesse (JJ) Argent

Next step

Inheriting a complex operation?

Ancillary services, rebuilt to run without a hero.