‘People look at you and feel hope’: New CEO to lead Calgary Catholic Immigration Society

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After leading one of the nation’s largest immigration organizations for 28 years, Fariborz Birjandian will take on an advisory role to welcome the next executive director of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society.

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Like Birjandian, the incoming executive director, Gordana Radan, was a refugee in Canada who began working with CCIS shortly after arriving in Calgary and experiencing the organization’s services firsthand. Radan came to Canada as a refugee from the former Yugoslavia in 1995. Her first home in Calgary was at the CCIS Margaret Chisholm Resettlement Center.

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“From the first moment I was there, I wanted to work for the organization. At the time, the CCIS slogan was ‘I was a stranger and they welcomed me,’ and that’s how I felt,” Radan said.

“Little did I know that 27 years later, I would be given this amazing opportunity to lead the organization.”

The first time he heard about Calgary was in 1984 at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, when they said that the next winter games would be held in Calgary, Canada. He would never have imagined that Calgary would become his home 11 years later.

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She began working for CCIS in 1997 as an employment counselor and was promoted to CCIS’ director of employment, training and business services in 2007. She will assume the role of executive director on January 1, when Birjandian assumes a new position as strategic advisor.

CCIS is a nonprofit agency that provides settlement and integration services to immigrants and refugees in southern Alberta and was founded in 1981.

Bringing lived experience into a leadership role is significant, Radan explained.

“I know firsthand the importance of the work the organization does, but I also witnessed the impact the organization has on the lives of newcomers,” he said. “When people first arrive as refugees, when they stay in our resettlement center, they have a number of mixed feelings. They may feel excited and apprehensive, relieved and guilty, happy and sad.”

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When interacting with her clients, Radan said she can tell them she knows exactly how they feel because she was there and went through the same process.

“People look at you and feel hope. They see the potential, they see that in the future they can achieve their goals here.”

Radan said he looks forward to building on the legacy Birjandian created to ensure CCIS continues to grow and prosper. In his first months in the new role, Radan said he wants to become more involved with the organization’s resettlement project and visit its rural locations in southern Alberta.

“My goal is that our programs and services, when we’re developing them, when we’re designing them, when we’re delivering them, remain customer-focused,” Radan said. “Our mission is to recognize the value of each newcomer customer and support them on their unique settlement journey.”

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Birjandian said he will work closely with Radan to make the transition as smooth as possible.

He joined CCIS 33 years ago, arriving in Canada as a refugee from Iran in 1988 and first becoming involved with the organization as a volunteer. He became CEO in 1994 with about 30 employees working in the basement of St. Mary’s School on a budget of $800,000.

As Birjandian steps down, CCIS has about 450 employees and 2,000 volunteers working in various buildings with a budget of $40 million.

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“Going through that journey, you obviously develop a lot of love. It’s not just a job, it’s your life to be a part of building something,” said Birjandian.

During his time with the agency, Birjandian established Calgary as an entry point for refugees and recently helped welcome nearly 5,000 Afghan refugees through the National Afghan Refugee Resettlement Project.

“Any job is a good job, but when you get paid to help people, it’s a wonderful job. A lot of people would do it for free,” Birjandian said. “You can’t produce a good show if you don’t have a good environment.”

He is proud to have led the CCIS team in building an agency that is a recognized leader and innovator in the field of settlement and integration and is not completely dependent on government funding and donations.

“It is the efforts of many people that did this, and I have been one of them, and I wanted to make sure that when I leave, there is not a gap. So for two years I will be working as a staff and listening to my boss,” Birjandian said.

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