From: Scott Mabury, Vice-President, Operations & Real Estate Partnerships
Date: January 9, 2026
Re: Retirement of Anne Macdonald, Assistant Vice-President, Spaces & Experiences

It is with enormous admiration — and no small amount of disbelief at the passage of time — that I share the news that Anne Macdonald, Assistant Vice-President, Spaces & Experiences, will retire from the University of Toronto on May 31, 2026, after more than 23 years of extraordinary leadership.

Anne’s leadership has been nothing short of transformative. Over two decades, she has reshaped how students live, eat, gather, celebrate, and experience life at U of T, leaving an imprint on the physical campus and on the lives of thousands of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members.

A career defined by vision and purpose

When Anne joined the University in 2002 as Director of Ancillary Services, she inherited a diverse and complex portfolio. What she built instead was a deeply integrated, student-centred, mission-aligned enterprise — one that would eventually become Spaces & Experiences (S&E), a name that fully captures her belief that spaces must serve people, and that experiences shape belonging and success.

From the start, Anne understood that a great university must also be a great place to live and learn. Under her leadership, U of T’s residences, food services, retail environments, event and conference offerings, hospitality programs, and commercial partnerships were reimagined with students at the centre.

Transforming student housing at U of T

One of Anne’s most lasting legacies is her leadership in expanding and modernizing student housing.

She led:

• the acquisition and conversion of the Toronto Colony Hotel into the Chestnut Residence,
• the 20% equity acquisition of CampusOne, instantly adding 890 residence beds adjacent to St. George,
• the development of Oak House, the first new St. George residence in more than 20 years,

and has actively supported the Build More Housing initiative, a bold multi-year strategy that charts a realistic, sustainable path to 2,700–4,700 additional beds over the next decade.

Her leadership created:

• a stronger, more connected campus,
• spaces that better support academic success,
• improved affordability and sustainability,
• more welcoming services for students and visitors, and
• a deeply integrated S&E portfolio that will serve U of T for decades.

We will celebrate Anne appropriately in the months ahead. For now, we extend our warmest thanks for her decades of service, her remarkable contributions to student life and campus culture, and her deeply held belief that a great university must care not only for minds, but for the communities and environments that sustain them.

Please join me in congratulating Anne on an exceptional career — and in thanking her for lifting the University of Toronto in ways large and small, visible and invisible, and always with grace, humour, and unwavering commitment.