It has been nearly three years since I was appointed Chair of the Board, and while I am excited to pass the baton to one of my colleagues, I am also amazed at everything we packed in to the last 36 months!

When I took on the Chair role, I set a personal goal to leave the organization better off than when I stepped into my position in whatever way I could. The Foundation had been operating for quite a while under a ‘business as usual’ type mandate and I didn’t anticipate having to rock the boat too much. I expected the role to be challenging, but nothing too wild… I was very wrong!!

After a few months in my new role, our long time CEO announced her retirement, which meant we had to find a new leader for the Foundation. After countless hours spent going through many applications and several interviews, we were excited to welcome Laura LaValley to our team. Laura has proven herself to be exactly what our Foundation needed. I am honoured to have worked closely with Laura over the past two years, and I’m confident that she is passionate, knowledgeable, and the best person to continue our goal of supporting our community.

Having successfully hired a new CEO, I figured I had accomplished my initial goal of leaving the Foundation in a great place. Unfortunately, there was little time to rest; in early 2020 we realized that COVID-19 was going to be a pandemic and we needed to step up and help. As always, our community did not hesitate, and I was proud and humbled to see our donors, staff, board, and community partners lean in to help in any way they could. We used the word ‘pivot’ quite a bit around the board table…however it often felt like we were being pulled in 100 different directions. We went through a lot of emotional ups and downs, but in the end, I do believe we came out stronger than ever and we forged many new relationships which will continue to grow and flourish in years to come.

These are just a few highlights from the time I got to spend as Chair. I am truly thankful to our community and the rest of our board for putting faith in me and allowing me to take on this challenge. I learned a lot and I’m excited to see what this next chapter holds for the Community Foundation and the many diverse communities of Northwestern Alberta!

Information provided by the Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta