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Anne Thornley-Brown

Anne Thornley-Brown

CEO | Executive Oasis International

The UI helped groom Anne Thornley-Brown for a career as a CEO, in-demand business consultant and team-building expert.

It also helped the former social work  student conquer one serious phobia.

“When I arrived at UIUC, I was absolutely terrified of dogs,” says the president and CEO of Toronto-based Executive Oasis International.

“You see, before I left Jamaica for Canada as a toddler, a dog snapped at me. I had no memory of the incident but it stuck.

“To get to one of my classes, I had to walk across the Quad. It was the only way. After a semester of walking past all the dogs that people were walking and exercising in that area, my fear of dogs was gone, never to return.

“Nothing happened so I gradually lost my fear.”