Joan Wilson is an important woman in AIESEC’s history, as she became the first woman from a non European member country to be AIESEC International’s Secretary General in 1980. Among the highlights of her term were trips to Eastern Europe and South Africa, two regions where the political situation was very different from what they are today. Joan helped to rebuild the National Committee of AIESEC in Poland after the team members died in a plane crash returning from the 1980 International Congress in Chicago. In 1981, AIESEC in South Africa’s membership was under review because of the government’s apartheid policy, Joan visited and met with students in the then-segregated universities. AIESEC was one of the few programs available for non-white students to travel abroad and for that reason she recommended to the global network that South Africa remain in AIESEC’s international member network.
Joan was President of the local committee at the University of Toronto in her graduating year, and went on to become President of AIESEC in Canada, where she helped to secure AIESEC’s first grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). AIESEC gave Joan the opportunity to enhance her communication skills especially when dealing with business people and gain an international perspective and ability to function in different culture situations.
After her involvement with AIESEC International and a traineeship in Switzerland, she returned to study and work in Canada. Today Joan is Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Sun Life Financial, a leading international financial services organization headquartered in Canada. She still supports AIESEC in Canada as an advisor and expects to attend AIESEC Canada’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, which falls in the same year as AIESEC International’s 60th Anniversary.