Years of management experience in the grocery industry gave Nick Apostolopoulos a passion for people. Professional, Applied and Continuing Education (PACE) at UWinnipeg gave him the skills to turn that passion into a career.

“I always knew that I would be very involved in dealing with employees, but in order to get a foot in to the human resources field, I needed to not only have the working experience, but also some formal education,” says Nick, a dual PACE graduate of the Human Resource Management Diploma (2011) and Management Certificate (2016) programs.

With an established career and a young family, full-time education wasn’t an option for Nick. Luckily, PACE offered him the flexibility to obtain the necessary education in a timeframe that worked for him. “I was able to pursue the programs at my pace, and had options to focus on courses within the programs that were most important and relevant to my needs,” he says.

In addition to the program’s convenience, Nick also appreciated being able to network with classmates and instructors from a variety of sectors. “Each course I was in had so many various people from many different industries, and it was a pleasure to learn from the experiences of others.”

Nick has now earned his national human resource certification, and is employed as a senior human resources generalist at Sysco Winnipeg. His role includes all aspects of human resources, including: recruitment, performance management, employee and labour relations, and health and safety.

Nick Apostolopoulos
Human Resources Manager - Western Canada
Burnbrae Farms