What’s going on? Welcome to the President’s Corner!
We are excited to announce that every month, we will be doing a President’s Corner to give members a chance to see what’s happening within the Club, especially given that we aren’t able to meet up at the track for regular workouts right now.
Our board is working alongside you on our mission of providing all members with a positive, inclusive Track & Field experience, free from harassment and discrimination, that nurtures and inspires athletic performance and excellence and raises the profile and prestige of the sport of Track & Field in the National Capital Region and beyond.
These summaries will highlight what our Board of Directors is working on and will provide an update on what we discuss at our monthly meetings.
Who’s on our Board of Directors?
Our Board is comprised of a diverse group of volunteers, with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Click here to see a list of our current Board members, which includes our Athletes and Coaches Representatives.
Our Last Board Meeting
The Ottawa Lions Board of Directors met on Monday, April 12th, 2021 over Zoom. During our Board meetings, our Executive Director, President, and Treasurer always provide an update on how our Club is doing and what we can anticipate in the coming weeks and months. This month, our Executive Director and Head Coach Richard Johnston highlighted the work being done during the current stay-at-home order, including applying for grants and government support, and setting up a variety of possible competition schedules to adapt to depending on restrictions we will face in the coming weeks and months. You can read more about Richard’s latest update here.
In addition, last month, our President, Jennifer Dumoulin, and Richard met with uOttawa Varsity Athletics to discuss our new contract and valuable ongoing relationship.
Our New Strategic Planning Initiative
Over the past couple of Board meetings, we’ve been working on developing a new strategic planning initiative and we are excited to announce that our Board members will have seven unique portfolios (presented in alphabetical order) with their own sets of objectives and initiatives to work towards.
Alumni Relations Champions – Noah Houlton and Zeena Rashid: Noah and Zeena will be working closely with our Club staff to strengthen our network of alumni, promoting better information-sharing and fostering increased alumni involvement with Club activities.
Bilingualism Champion – Gordon Cavé: As Bilingualism Champion, Gordon is going to focus on raising the profile of French within our Club. One of the initiatives he’ll be working towards is translating our Club’s website and developing a process for issuing bilingual press releases.
Board 101 Champion – Dave Farthing: Dave is going to help formalize our Board’s operations by developing resources for officers, directors and representatives.
Budget Champion – Lynn Thompson: Lynn will continue her outstanding work as Treasurer while championing the development of a formal budgeting cycle and budget resources.
By-law Champion – Jenn Dumoulin: As By-law Champion, Jenn is going to work on bringing our Club’s by-laws up-to-date with the current landscape while ensuring that they’re free of errors (yep, that includes spelling and grammar mistakes).
Charity Champions – Jen Perrault and James Bruce: Jen and James, working with our Director-at-Large Eleanor Fast, are going to examine setting up a charitable foundation to streamline donations to our club, its athletes, and coaches.
Diversity and Inclusivity Champions – Andrew Heffernan and Kirk Dillabaugh: As Diversity and Inclusivity Champions, with their feet on the ground as our Athletes’ and Coaches’ Representatives respectively, Andrew and Kirk will focus on the promotion and realization of our Club’s vision to be the most inclusive, comprehensive, and successful Track and Field club in Canada
Stay tuned for updates on the important work of our Champions!
See you next month!
Thanks for reading our inaugural President’s Corner update. As always, your feedback and input on our Club is welcome and encouraged as we work towards our vision to be a leader in the community as well as in the realm of athletics; and be the most inclusive, comprehensive and successful Track & Field club in Canada. Please feel free to reach out by emailing me at president@ottawalions.com
Stay safe and stay active,
Jennifer Dumoulin
President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club
(prepared jointly with Zeena Rashid, Secretary, Ottawa Lions Board of Directors)