Jonathan Goldbloom, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors:
As Canadians, hockey plays such a central role in our day-to-day lives.
It gives us something to discuss with our family, friends and co-workers, brings together our communities when Canada is playing on the international stage and no matter what your skill level, when you’re on the ice, hockey lets us experience one of life’s greatest joys: having fun.
Hockey matters.
Our Members, staff, participants, parents, partners, government officials and all other stakeholders in the game want hockey to succeed and to have a Hockey Canada that makes every Canadian proud.
When I applied as a potential candidate for the transition board of directors last fall, it was driven by the optimism that Hockey Canada will soon be looked upon once again as a leader in hockey and sport, not just in our country but around the world.
In the past year, our transition board made important and meaningful progress in leadership renewal, sport safety, good governance, and financial transparency and accountability.
Although our time together was only 11 months long, it set the foundation for the work we will do together to make positive changes that benefit our organization, our membership, hockey and sport in general.
We cannot do this without each and every one of you.
Last week, we held our Winter Congress and Annual Meeting in Montreal, where the election for the Hockey Canada Board of Directors took place.
I was grateful to have been appointed as the chair of the board and to be joined by Grant Borbridge and Marian Jacko, who were tremendous teammates on the transition board, and our six new directors: Gillian Apps, Amanda Fowler, Corey Hirsch, Kristi Miller, Krista Outhwaite and Geoffrey Wong.
We are excited to get to work as a team and help you all in any way we can throughout our time together.
With the leadership of Katherine Henderson, Pat McLaughlin and the rest of the staff at Hockey Canada, we are fortunate to have a committed and passionate group that is ready to take our sport to new heights.
And let’s remember to have fun along the way, because that’s what hockey is all about.
Katherine Henderson, president and chief executive officer of Hockey Canada:
In September, I joined Hockey Canada as a proud Canadian, leader in sport and lifelong fan of hockey.
I was excited to work with our passionate board, staff, Members and partners to provide all Canadians with personal hockey experiences that are right for them, and to ensure hockey in our country embodies safety, excellence and sport for all.
After meeting with and learning from many of you in the past three months, I find myself even more enthused at what the future holds for us. The future we’re creating together.
At Winter Congress, we had honest and important discussions with our Members on a number of topics, including increased alignment, our collective efforts to better address maltreatment in hockey, this season’s promising registration data and upcoming initiatives at the national and Member levels.
I shared with the Members and our outgoing board the recurring themes that have been made clear throughout my initial conversations with our stakeholders at all levels of the game, and want to outline them for you as we look forward:
- We are Canadians and we want hockey excellence;
- The right to play hockey must become our way of thinking;
- Our participants, including players, coaches, officials, volunteers and administrators are here to be served;
- It is critical to have an athlete-centred philosophy as the game continues to grow and evolve;
- We have made significant investments in sport safety, but in order to deliver on that and so much more, we need to identify our business priorities and be more efficient;
- Enhance our governance by doing it better with greater impact and less risk;
- Outstanding people, including those who deliver hockey at the grassroots level, will make the difference.
While there is more work to be done, we are certainly on our way.
I am confident that with governance that accelerates what we want to do, bringing new people into the sport, focusing on our business priorities, continuing to be in lockstep with our Members and empowering the great people we have throughout our organization, the opportunities for hockey in the future are truly limitless.
As you know, Jonathan Goldbloom was appointed as chair of the board on Saturday after the Members elected him, Gillian Apps, Grant Borbridge, Amanda Fowler, Corey Hirsch, Marian Jacko, Kristi Miller, Krista Outhwaite and Geoffrey Wong.
Jonathan’s passion for hockey is contagious and I am excited to work with him and the other directors to help us work towards a happy, safe and healthy hockey for all.
To each of you, thank you for the insights, knowledge and support you have provided me in my first three months at Hockey Canada, and for your relentless efforts to make hockey more.
I am so happy to be on this journey with you – let’s bring it on.
Carpe Futurum.
