Sultan Ali Sadat came to Canada as a refugee from Afghanistan in December 2000. In 1998, during the first Taliban regime, he left Afghanistan for Pakistan, where taught English and Mathematics to Afghan students and supervised a group of teachers. In April 2003, he joined the Saskatoon Open Door Society’s Board of Directors and then served on the board for three years. In February 2006, he resigned from the board and joined SODS’ finance team. From 2006 to 2010, he worked as acting finance supervisor, then bookkeeper/accountant and for a brief period as a Resettlement Assistance Program counsellor and facilitator, and in January 2010 he joined the Cultural Bridging team. In July 2015, he was recruited to the SODS management team, and he is currently the Director of Human Resources and Operations.
Sultan has earned a three-year degree in Economics, an Accounting Technician diploma, a degree in Commerce specializing in Human Resources, a certificate in Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), another certificate from Leadership Saskatoon, and an MBA from the University of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Over the years he has served on six boards, including those of the Remai Modern art gallery, TCU Place, and Habitat for Humanity Saskatoon, as well as the Saskatoon Open Door Society. He also served two terms as Chair of the SODS Bargaining Unit before joining its management team.
In his previous position at SODS, Sultan enjoyed working as Cultural Bridging Facilitator for over four years, sharing his knowledge of diversity, cultural communication and cross-cultural awareness with other organizations and businesses across Saskatchewan.
Throughout his career, Sultan has been committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. He has implemented training programs to raise awareness of unconscious bias and has worked closely with the staff and the management team to get input and develop recruitment strategies that ensure a diverse pool of candidates. He has also spearheaded initiatives to promote employee engagement, such as in-house cultural training, wellness programs, and employee recognition programs.