Zena Merali B.A, M.Ed, CPHR, is a human resources professional with over 25 years of experience in both public (including not-for-profit) and private sectors. She has a strong background in a wide variety of areas including facilitation, recruitment, training and development, and human resources management.
She also has a consulting practice and works with clients on issues such as strategic planning, performance management, talent acquisition and employee relations as well as management and leadership development.
She has a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s School of Education in Administration, Planning and Social Policy. Zena is passionate about sharing her experiences as an HR professional and consultant. Her compassion and commitment show up in her teaching every day and her motto that “education is a lifelong journey, not a destination” is a philosophy that she role models in her ongoing desire to learn and better herself every day. This also extends to her facilitation in workshops to ensure that both clients and individual participants commit to their own growth and personal development as a process.
Zena is currently faculty at BCIT in the School of Business + Media and also teaches online at SFU through their Continuing Studies program. She teaches both business and HR courses at BCIT although her commitment to education and learning does not stop at her role as an instructor. She has been serving her community in some way for most of her life. Over the last decade, she has been a lead facilitator and curriculum developer in a Conflict Resolution Training Program that was delivered to volunteers across Canada. More recently, she has also served as a curriculum advisor to training that will be delivered to leaders across the globe for an international event that will be held in Dubai in 2025. Other activities include her participation as a panelist on Bridging the Gap: Essential Tools for Small Businesses regarding recruitment strategies and an Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC) roundtable discussion (representing the Education sector) regarding barriers in hiring new arrivals to Canada. Last year she was nominated for an award at BCIT for her work with virtual, global teams on a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project and won the Teaching Excellence Award for 2024 in the International category based on the project.