Alastair Woods has over a decade of experience in Ontario's postsecondary system, leveraging his deep and varied experience to drive policy innovation in the sector. His multifaceted professional experience includes time in student advocacy organizations, government ministries, public agencies, and policy consulting work with postsecondary institutions and community partners.

Alastair began his career in student politics, serving as a Vice-President of Campaigns and Advocacy at the York Federation of Students before being elected twice as the Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. In 2017, Alastair joined the Office of the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development as a Policy Advisor with responsibility for work-integrated learning, postsecondary innovation, skilled trades/apprenticeships, and digital government. He served multiple years in senior policy roles at the Council of Ontario Universities and the Ontario Council for Articulation and Transfer before returning to the Ministry to join the Secretariat for the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Postsecondary Financial Sustainability.

Most recently, Alastair was Director of Policy at the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). There, Alastair supported research teams to unearth insights that drove institutional and government policy change in areas such as operational efficiencies, intellectual property, nursing and personal support worker training, international student recruitment and more.

Alastair holds a Master of Design degree from OCAD University in Strategic Foresight and Innovation (2020) and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from York University in International Development and Political Science. He also holds a certification in The Fundamentals of OCAP®️ from the First Nations Information Governance Centre.

A firm believer in the power of storytelling, Alastair is an avid reader and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His essay "Motherland" was a finalist for the 2021 Sewanee Review Non-Fiction Prize. He has been a Writing Fellow at the Tennants Cove Writers' Workshop in New Brunswick and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in the United States.