Chad Holtum

Shawnigan Lake School has expanded its Admissions Department, welcoming Chad Holtum in the new position of Director of Enrollment and Marketing. Chad moves from Queen Margaret’s School (QMS) in Duncan where he was Deputy Head with responsibility for admissions, advancement, marketing and communications. During his tenure at QMS, which was just shy of six years, the school realized a 50% increase in enrollment. Prior to that he was Vice Principal and Director of Admissions for two years at Lakeside Prep School in Shawnigan Lake, a small International Boarding school for grades 7-12.

Chad is an ‘Island boy’, having grown up in Ladysmith. Both his parents taught in the public system here and he began his career in the Richmond school district. Chad has a B.Com. in Marketing and Finance from the University of Guelph, a B.Ed., Teaching Certificate (K-12) and an M.Ed. in Leadership and Administration all from UBC.

Before his teaching stint in Richmond, Chad was Project Manager for Youth at ICBC. He began the program on Vancouver Island and ended with a staff of 42 province-wide, conducting education programs aimed at youth to discourage dangerous driving, drinking and driving and auto crime. Over the four years, “we watched crime go down wherever teams were set up; it was a highly effective program,” said Chad.

His new role at Shawnigan includes “reaffirming the branding of the school and positioning it in the right places for market diversification, both here in North America and around the world,” he explained. “We’re assuring that the school population is internationally and nationally diverse as well as continuing to attract top students.” About 20 per cent of Shawnigan’s current 445 students are international, not including those from the United States.

Within just a week of starting his new job, Chad was off on a three-week trip through Asia, introducing himself to Shawnigan’s existing contacts, cultivating new relationships and identifying new markets. “For example we’re going to Vietnam for the first time,” Chad said “and this is just the beginning; we are looking at various new markets both here at home and around the world. It is an exciting time to be at Shawnigan and I am proud to be here.”