St. Albert has another new manager of corporate communications and design.
Cory Sinclair, 44, started with the city on Nov. 25. This summer the position was filled but became vacant again this fall. Now Sinclair has joined the department, supervising the communications advisers and graphic designers.
“I was really looking for a new challenge,” Sinclair said. He spent 14 years with Edmonton Public Schools in escalating communications roles.
Growing up in northeast Edmonton, Sinclair has fond memories of coming to St. Albert for various activities. More recently, he coached hockey in St. Albert, though he’s now doing so in Spruce Grove because of rezoning.
As a result, he was familiar with the strong sense of community in the city, but what’s surprised him was the breadth of activity here.
“I didn’t realize so many things were underway at the same time,” Sinclair said.
After 14 years with the same organization, stability is something he likes and he’s hoping to have it with the city. New communications adviser Shawn Friedenberger only joined the city a week before Sinclair.
“It’s a young team, it’s a new team,” Sinclair said of his communications and graphic design team. “I really want to build a sense of team.”
“There’s a lot of turnover in the communications industry in general but I think this is the kind of place that people could thrive,” he said.
In addition to team-building, some of Sinclair’s goals are to position his team as an integral part of the city’s strategic services department, co-ordinate communications across city departments and use both traditional and social media to improve communications with St. Albertans.
So far, Sinclair has felt welcomed and appreciated, and has been getting to meet his colleagues thanks to invitations and requests coming in to check out various projects.
The City of St. Albert has a good reputation, he said, and so far it’s living up to that. “I can see why it’s so highly regarded,” Sinclair said.
The new manager is married with two children and has a few family connections to St. Albert. He attended the University of Alberta, getting a bachelors degree in political science, and attended MacEwan University for his public relations diploma.
While the first few weeks have been a whirlwind, Sinclair has managed to get outside of St. Albert Place long enough to see some of the nearby sites.
“I didn’t realize what was behind St. Albert Place … there’s lots of natural beauty back there,” he said.
Making sure citizens can get the information they need in the way they like to get such information – be it through a website, social media, or other formats – means Sinclair wants to makes sure different communication types are used to reach out to residents.
“You should get the information to where people live (for information gathering),” Sinclair said.
