About

Lynne’s business experience includes work in public, private as well as not-for-profit organizations. Her education is a carefully curated group of degrees, credentials, certificates and continuing education courses.

Lynne Christensen

Formal Education

Degrees

Master of Business Administration, Athabasca University
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Alberta

Credentials

Change Management Practitioner, APMG International
Change Management Foundation, APMG International
Certified Association Executive, American Society of Association Executives
Diploma in Health Services Administration, Dalhousie University

Certificates/Badges of Completion

Certificate in Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education, University of British Columbia
Certificate in Curriculum Development, Canadian College of Educators
Certificate in Adult Education, Canadian College of Educators
Certificate in Technical Writing, Dalhousie University
Emerging Trends in Global Services and Retail Management, University of South Florida and University of Naples Federico II
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate, University of South Florida Office of Corporate Training and Professional Education
Inclusive and Ethical Leadership Certificate, University of South Florida Office of Corporate Training and Professional Education

Navigating Extraordinary Times, PowerED

Continuing Education Courses

Fundamentals of Technical Writing, University of Waterloo
Developmental Editing and Structural Editing Courses, Simon Fraser University
Graphic Design Level I and II, British Columbia Institute of Technology

Life History

Like many senior business leaders reading this today, Lynne has sat through endless tough meetings, taken countless sales calls, led numerous promotional campaigns, managed both internal and external teams, facilitated many technical discussions, helped create sound budgets, written comprehensive strategic plans plus much more. She’s also (unfortunately) lived the nightmare of twenty two plus hour flight delays in foreign cities and seen how red tape can strangle the best of projects. In other words, this isn’t her first rodeo. She has, however, been involved with horses for a very long time starting when she was seven years old…

Lynne Vivienne Christensen (it rhymes) was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, a prairie province that boasts hard working people, plenty of sunshine and very cold winters. Lynne’s parents were first generation Canadian immigrants, focused academics and published authors. Her father was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Alberta for 27 years, excelling with graduate students researching power system optimization, and in prior years was a radio operator for the international Danish merchant marine. Lynne’s mother taught microbiology, zoology and botany at the University of Alberta, served on ski patrol, founded an association for gifted children and is an internationally recognized genealogist. Lynne was the kid who loved visiting Edmonton’s Meadowlark Mall library every Saturday, coming home with two canvas bags stuffed full of horse, animal and history books.

Lynne, an avid reader from the age of seven.

Every year at Christmas time, the family hosted father’s graduate students on Christmas Day, welcoming students from Egypt, China, Australia, India and many more. These experiences gave Lynne an incredible sense of appreciation for other cultures and those Christmases form some of her fondest memories.

As a child, her first passion was horses and she started riding at the age of seven. In her early teens, Lynne galloped racehorses for the ‘B’ tracks and did part-time management for a barn of thirty horses including lesson and show activities. After trying showjumping, eventing and Pony Club events on borrowed horses, she settled on dressage, the sport often referred to as ‘ballet on horseback’. She balanced sports training with studying for her Bachelor of Commerce degree. In her teens, she lived with her beloved cousins in Denmark for a few months so she could learn from the European dressage experts. Lynne paid for her Danish riding lessons by working as a dishwasher at an hotel in Aalborg.

Once back home in Canada, Lynne acquired a wonderful Anglo-Arabian horse full of personality and heart named Surone (barn name ‘Ron’) that she trained (with the help of a fantastic coach) to numerous dressage and show hack championships, including Western Canadian Champion and National Reserve Champion. Sport taught Lynne about hard work, perseverance and dedication, all principles that serve her well in business.

Lynne, Surone and their horse show ribbons.

Career

After moving to British Columbia, Lynne started her business career as a mailroom clerk. That particular job was quite special because it taught her that four years of university does not teach one how to unjam the photocopier! She soon became the go-to writer, no matter the company name or where her name was located on the organization chart. She started writing promotional copy, quality control manuals and reviewing laboratory tests in discussion with Subject Matter Experts. Lynne tackled marketing and writing tasks for colleagues who needed help producing a quality result on time with an eye for diplomacy and corporate politics. Carefully adding a product/service's technical details into the marketing mix is one of her specialties! As the years passed, the complexity of her project work increased and she relished the challenge of interviewing multiple Subject Matter Experts and then combining all of their thoughts into one concise, agreed-upon document. Lynne earned an MBA while working full time; her intensive academic background prepared her well for working with scientists and engineers. In addition, her business background allows her to comfortably work on advanced strategic governance projects with managers and executives.

Lynne has worked at for-profit, not-for-profit and public companies, gaining a wealth of management experience in multiple departments including marketing, administration, education, finance, human resources, operations, quality control, product certification, legal, building code and government relations. Lynne's service as Director of Operations at a forest industry trade association involved business travel all over the United States and Canada. Colleagues have described Lynne as: organized, trustworthy, meticulous, consistent, professional, approachable, diplomatic, efficient, thorough, talented writer, calm, respected, dedicated, genuine, loyal, credible, focused, team-oriented and inspiring. In the spirit of giving back, Lynne has donated thousands of volunteer hours to worthy organizations including holding executive positions at her local Chamber of Commerce, an energy efficiency rating organization and an organization researching the impact of severe weather on residential and commercial buildings.

A Few More Interesting Tidbits

Pre-pandemic, Lynne had the privilege of travel in Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, plus all over Western Europe, the United States and Canada. She’s even visited the Potato Museum on Prince Edward Island! Lynne is currently based near scenic Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In her spare time she enjoys treadmill walking, creative writing, learning about history, watching BritBox (Gardeners’ World with Monty Don, Antiques Roadshow and 1970s British detective shows are current favorites), and archival research (nothing tops a fascinating new discovery in centuries-old documents).