As president and CEO of the Ottawa-based company Actua, Jennifer Flanagan is ensuring youth have the skills and tools to succeed in the STEM jobs of tomorrow.
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In the last year alone, technology has changed at such a breathless pace, it can be hard to keep up.
But for Jennifer Flanagan, making sure educational materials for youth are keeping up with the times is just part of the job.
Flanagan is president and CEO of Ottawa-based Actua, which hosts a cross-Canada network that provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education to youth underrepresented in the workforce to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.
When it comes to STEM fields, she said that though it isn’t always easy to keep up with the pace of change, it’s a vital part of what her company does.
“We adapt the content every year and sometimes more frequently,” she said. “This time last year, we didn’t have ChatGPT content because it hadn’t even been launched yet. Now we have to ask ourselves immediately, ‘What does this mean for education and how are kids going to use it?’ We’re developing content to teach them how to use it as a tool.”
With over 25 years of experience as a leader in STEM education, Flanagan was recently recognized by Veuve Clicquot, receiving the 2023 Bold Woman Award. The award celebrates a woman who demonstrates entrepreneurial daring, reinventing tradition and maintaining an ethical approach to business.
"Winning the Bold Woman Award is a celebration not only of my journey, but also of the collective efforts of the Actua network in advancing women and underrepresented youth in STEM,” said Flanagan. “Together, we have championed equity and diversity and I am proud to be a part of this community of bold women.”
Flanagan grew up in New Brunswick and earned a bachelor’s degree studying biochemistry and psychology at the University of New Brunswick. She later went on to earn an MBA from McGill University, but it was her time as an undergraduate that led her to a career in STEM education.
“One day I saw a poster — literally a handwritten poster on the wall — that said, ‘Want to start a science camp with me?’” she said. “That poster and the fact I responded to it changed the course of what I would do in the future.”
Flanagan said this initial foray into education combined all of her interests. She’d previously worked as a camp counsellor and already knew she loved working with kids. An avid volunteer, the camp program allowed her to use those skills to teach the subject she was so interested in.
“I spent that first summer starting this program,” she said. “We travelled all over the province, basically getting kids excited about science.”
It was a formative experience, and one that echoes in the work she does today.
“I grew up with a lot of opportunity and privilege in that I could pursue whatever I wanted,” she said. “I felt encouraged and supported. That summer, we visited communities in New Brunswick that were facing huge barriers. That’s where I think the seeds of Actua really were planted.”
In its earliest iteration, the company relied on federal funding, but when that funding ran out, it needed a new, more sustainable business model. In 2000, Flanagan was brought on as the company’s first employee and was instrumental in creating the vision for Actua, which combined two separate organizations with different subject matter expertise to bring science, technology, engineering and math together.
Now, the company engages youth across the countries in STEM subjects through summer camps, classroom workshops, clubs, teacher training, and community outreach activities. Through its partner universities and colleges, Actua supports hands-on programs that allow students to learn key skills and explore STEM.
“I’m in awe of how the organization has evolved, but also maintained its core focus, which has always been on removing barriers to engaging in STEM, building inclusivity in these fields and engaging youth that no other organization is engaging,” said Flanagan.
When it comes to STEM education, Flanagan said the barriers can vary widely from community to community.
Actua has created a national network, which includes 40 universities and colleges, that engages 350,000 youth each year who are underrepresented across STEM fields. Those young students include girls and young women, Indigenous youth, Black youth, First Nations youth, and youth from rural and Arctic communities.
In many cases the barriers are systemic and socio-economic. According to Flanagan, these students often lack access to opportunities that are available to their peers. Part of Actua’s goal is to put those opportunities in front of them and give them access to the tools they need to take advantage.
“A ton of kids don’t know that they have a place in science and they have so much to offer,” she said.
As president and CEO, Flanagan said it’s her job to be a champion, advocate, lobbyist and spokesperson on topics like “tech equity” and access to education.
According to her, addressing these issues isn’t just important for the kids themselves.
“Our vision is to contribute to Canada being one of the leaders globally in education, not just for the sake of being in the lead, but also for what comes from having strong STEM education,” she said. “It means socially that we are more inclusive; that we’re filling in workforce gaps with people who are underemployed or unemployed; that we have an economy that is strong, inclusive and that generates the kind of returns that benefit all of us.”
Just as Actua strives to keep pace with rapidly changing industries to prepare youth for the future, Flanagan said it will also continue to expand its reach to support even more kids.
“There are a ton of kids that still need to be reached and supported,” she said. “We’ll continue doing this work and we’re in 500 communities now, but kids keep coming and, as they get older, they have different needs. It’s really continuing to understand where they are meeting you and meeting them there.”
