May 05, 2016 (Ottawa, ON) – The Cycling Canada Board of Directors met over the April 29 to May 1, 2016 weekend in Ottawa with a full agenda of business matters plus the necessary work on the organization’s strategic plan for the 2017-2020 quadrennial. A full day session under the facilitation of Robin Porter was held with the results of the stakeholder surveys, inputs from the Deloitte Best in Class initiative and a benchmarking of other national cycling federations among the areas reviewed. The goal is to have a draft plan ready for review by the members at the 2016 Annual Conference at the end of October in Ottawa.
The Board received a full briefing on the performance of the organization against the operating plan in each of the strategic pillars over the past twelve months. They also reviewed the Cycling Canada Risk Registry and have added a couple of newly identified risks that will require attention over the next year. The review of policies saw six policies reviewed and necessary revisions approved for implementation.
The current CEO / Secretary General, Greg Mathieu, has given notice that he will be retiring at the end of the 2016 calendar year and the Board has begun the process of succession planning for that position. The CEO Succession Sub-committee of Cycling Canada chaired by President, John Tolkamp, has been working on the succession plan process for search and recruitment. This includes the timing of major activities such as the finalization of the position description and the process for inviting and vetting candidates beginning later this summer. The intent is to have an overlap period of transition for the successor with Greg to facilitate the necessary orientation and passing of the active files.
In acknowledgement of the significant increase in the annual budget, and additional accountability to funding partners and members, the Board has promoted Director of Finance & Administration Brett Stewart to the newly created role of Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. President John Tolkamp, who also chairs the Finance & Audit Committee noted that; “the annual budget of Cycling Canada was just under 4.0 million in 2009-10 fiscal and has now increased to a projected budget of just over 8.0 million for 2016-17. With this added activity the level of financial oversight and budgetary control becomes paramount. Brett’s work has been exemplary and we are pleased that he will be taking on this enhanced responsibility.”
The Cycling Canada Annual Conference will take place in Ottawa from October 28 to 30, 2016 and will include the Olympic / Paralympic Recognition Gala acknowledging our athletes and support staff that will be competing at the Rio de Janeiro Games.