Age: 39
Occupation: Manager, Housing Solutions, City of Calgary
Tim Ward has had two major experiences of loss in his life — his father leaving when he was a teenager and an incurable lung cancer diagnosis. When his father left, Ward’s family rallied together, which instilled in him the value of supporting one another in times of need.
“No one is immune from a moment where their life can be completely upended,” he says. “But [experiencing loss] sold me on a journey of public service and the difference you can make.”
As the City of Calgary’s Manager of Housing Solutions, Ward saw how housing, or the lack thereof, affects people daily. One in five households cannot afford their current residence, according to the City’s Housing Needs Assessment. Ward helped develop and implement Home is Here, the City’s affordable-housing strategy. The strategy includes 98 actions designed to ensure every Calgarian has an affordable place to call home. He additionally negotiated funding from the Government of Alberta, earning $34 million for The City, which also received $228 million from the Housing Accelerator Fund — the second highest amount in the country, second only to Toronto.
In April of this year, Ward was diagnosed with Stage 4 ALK-positive lung cancer, an incurable cancer, caused by mutations in the ALK gene, that has no known cause. Though it was devastating, Ward took the diagnosis as another chance to help others also battling cancer and facing loss. Even now, while living with cancer, he is working to organize fundraisers with Lung Cancer Canada and ALK Positive, an organization led by patients diagnosed with ALK-positive lung cancer and their caregivers. He hopes to raise awareness of the importance of cancer research, therapy and clinical trials.
“I’m really grateful and humbled for all I’ve done and been able to do,” he says.
Thank yous
“My amazing wife, Miranda; her family, the Szepvolgyis; my family back in England; all of my incredible colleagues; and particularly Jyoti Gondek, Elsbeth Mehrer, Jeff Chase, Jaydan Tait, Katie Black, the housing and planning teams at the City of Calgary, Jen Thompson and so many more.”
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