Valerie Ruhe was born and raised in North Vancouver. She earned her BEd in Teaching English as a Second Language from Concordia University in Montreal and a Masters and PhD in Education (focus: statistics and program evaluation) from the University of British Columbia. She has taught ESL at Douglas College and Thompson Rivers University and language teaching methods at the University of Victoria. She evaluated the medical education programs at UBC and McGill, researched innovative, active learning programs at the University of Minnesota and was the State Program Evaluator in Reading Recovery, a program for struggling first grade readers at the University of Maine. She designed competencies in Acupuncture to align Masters and PhD programs across 75 colleges in the United States. She published a book, Evaluation in Distance Education and E-learning: The Unfolding Model and research articles in journals such as The International Journal of Testing, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice and Medical Teacher. She served on the parish council at St Hilda’s Anglican Church in Sechelt and worked for Elections Canada in 2013 and Elections BC in 2016. In July 2017, she moved to Victoria where she enjoys serving as secretary of the Welcoming Committee at Christ Church Cathedral, working at Pearson Professional Centre, cycling, swimming, birding, hiking and attending cultural events in and around Victoria.