BJ Santavy, vice-president of Guelph, Ont.-based Skyline Living, is among the first winners of the Apartment Buildings.com 100 Awards. She was honoured in the Innovators of the Year category. Read about how she stands out among her peers in the Canadian multi-family sector.

By Amy Wolff Sorter

BJ Santavy is Skyline Living’s vice-president. She is a respected leader, mentor and changemaker in the Canadian multi-family industry. She joined Skyline in 2009 as Director of Residential Operations and was appointed to her current role in 2016.

Skyline Living manages approximately 21,000 units and serves close to 34,000 tenants across 51 communities in seven provinces. Santavy’s leadership has helped expand the company’s footprint, while ensuring consistently strong, scalable and ever-improving operations.

During her time at the company, Santavy launched and rolled out programs, including RISE (Reach, Impact, Support, Elevate), which supports tenants experiencing hardship by connecting them to community resources and providing financial assistance. Santavy also launched the Refugee Assistance Program (a branch of RISE) to assist refugees from Ukraine and oversaw an internal restructuring at Skyline Living, shifting the philosophy from administration to service.

She is the former chair of Rental Housing Canada and past-president of the London Property Management Association. She was also a member of the public Relations and pducation committees for the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario.

In the community, Santavy is a fundraising advisory board member for My Sister’s Place, which provides essential services and safety for women and non-binary people facing homelessness and other issues.

Santavy received the Rental Housing Providers of Nova Scotia Industry Leadership Award and Connect Canada CRE’s Canadian Women in Real Estate Award. Rental Housing Canada has also commended the programs she launched for their impact.

These are some of the reasons why BJ Santavy is among the first-annual ApartmentBuildings.com 100 Innovator of the Year Award winners, who are recognized for their creativity, skill and success in the multi-family industry.

Read about all winners of the Apartment Buildings.com 100 Awards.