Brenda Ruggles

Cominar

By Leah Etling on Jan 15, 2013 in People

Brenda Ruggles believes that life is too short not to be happy.

So she fills her days with challenging tasks, amazing adventures, people she loves, playing golf, non-profit work on behalf of animals, following the British Royal Family, and delicious cooking and baking projects – and those are just some of her interests.

A resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Brenda is a Yardi administrator for Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust, a Quebec-based REIT that primarily handles retail and commercial holdings. In 2011, Cominar took over Brenda’s former employer, Canmarc/Homburg Canada. She became a Yardi expert while working for Homburg, and was part of the client team as the company implemented Yardi Voyager to manage its European and Canadian portfolios.

As a Yardi administrator, she oversees all aspects of Cominar’s use of Yardi, which helps the company manage 482 office, retail, and industrial properties in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, the Atlantic Provinces, and Western Canada.

To support the 91 users of Yardi within the company, Brenda works not only a traditional Monday through Friday schedule, but also takes their calls or sets up online meetings whenever a Cominar employee needs help.  That might be on a weekend or during the evening, but she doesn’t mind being constantly available for support and troubleshooting.

“We have staff in the Eastern time zone, as well as staff in British Columbia and Alberta, so if they need me in the evening then I’m there to support them to make sure they aren’t getting frustrated,” she said. If a technical issue can’t be explained easily in an email, Brenda sets up online meetings using Citrix GoToMeeting that allows her to see the employee’s computer screen and walks through the solution with them.

Another unique challenge of her job has been training new users in Yardi software. Since Cominar is based in Quebec, business at the corporate office is conducted in French, not English. Brenda doesn’t speak French, but still manages to convey the concepts of Yardi’s programs at trainings with the help of a translator, live demonstrations, plenty of hand gestures and a positive spirit.

“It takes a little longer to do the training, but we have fun doing it,” she said. Getting her trainees to laugh and engage with each other is as important to her as making sure they understand how to use the programs correctly. Brenda studied to be a teacher in college, and although she never pursued that vocation, the skills have come in handy during her property management career. She loves the people she works with and the variety of her job.

Despite her intense work schedule, Brenda and her husband Brad make time for many shared pastimes. They have four grandchildren between the ages of 8 and 3, and love spending time with them. Golf and travel are two other favorites. They love to try new ethnic cuisine in Montreal and play golf in Las Vegas. For Brenda’s 50^th birthday, Brad surprised her with a trip to Ireland. In 2013, they are planning to visit Great Britain and Europe.

Volunteering on behalf of animals is a personal passion for Brenda. Both she and Brad have donated their time to the Bide Awhile animal shelter, a no-kill facility in Halifax that finds loving homes for cats and dogs. Brenda spent seven years on Bide Awhile’s Board of Directors, including a stint as its president, and organized many charity golf tournaments to help raise tens of thousands of dollars in funding for the shelter.

Though she has recently taken a break from volunteering there due to her busy work schedule, Brenda says she will surely return in the future. Meanwhile, she has a rescued cat at home. Her finance and accounting skills are valued not only at work but by her parish, United Church of Halifax, where she volunteers and may become a member of the board.

During the holidays, baking more than 300 peanut butter ball cookies and dozens of her signature whipped shortbreads kept Brenda exceptionally busy. The treats went not just to coworkers at her office, but to family and friends. She also loves experimenting with new Italian and German dishes in the kitchen.

With a host of other hobbies that include reading, walking, knitting and cross-stitch, Brenda admits to having one pastime that her friends sometimes tease her about – her obsession with the British Royal Family. Like her mother before her, she’s a “Royal Watcher,” someone who keeps close tabs on whatever the British monarchy is up to.

She was thrilled to see Prince William and his wife Catherine when the visited Prince Edward Island. Brad, an amateur photographer, managed to get a great photo of the young Royal couple as they rode by in a carriage. The image now hangs in Brenda’s office. If given the chance, she would love to meet Prince William, now a father-to-be, in person.

But despite her tech-savvy job, there’s one thing that you won’t find Brenda doing in her free time, and that’s reading online blog posts about the Royals or William and Catherine’s forthcoming baby.

“The last thing I want to do is sit and stare at a computer screen when I come home,” she says, so she sticks to good old-fashioned printed pieces of paper – also known as books, magazines and newspapers – to keep up with the goings-on across the Pond.