Wed 07 Sep 2022
Hello and Goodbye (sort of)
Posted by Julie.Daum
It is September again folks, that time of year of seasonal change, freshly sharpened pencils and cool, crisp mornings.
Here at Mediate BC, we are excited by several "seasonal" changes. In one such change, I will be ending my term as Chair of Mediate BC this month, and we will see the election of a new executive at the end of September. I’ll be continuing as Past President and also continuing in my commitment to the Calls to Action Committee, and look forward to working with new leaders to continue to build our common vision of a society where mediation and other collaborative dispute resolution processes are trusted and widely accessed by its citizens.
I have been honoured to be a part of many positive developments at Mediate BC over the six years I have served on the Board. I am conscious that the pandemic increased our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusivity in all of our work and am proud to have contributed to many initiatives aimed at increasing access to justice through collaborative decision-making. Like so many others, Mediate BC has found benefits in forced shifts to greater online engagement including increased community building amongst conflict resolution professionals and with partner organizations.
On the staff side, we are excited to officially name Sharon Sutherland our Executive Director! We welcome Gina Camilleri as Director of Operations and Finance, and are delighted that Ann Lee will take on the newly created role of Communications Manager. Sierra Wells has joined us as Senior Collaborative Decision-Making (CDM) Navigator and will be working with Jereme Brooks (Child Protection Program Manager) to develop the new Child Welfare CDM Navigator Program (Navigator Program, for short). (You’ll hear more about the Navigator Program soon!) In the next little while, you’ll get to know our new staff as they introduce themselves in blog posts and join us in community events.
We look forward to a wonderful fall full of connection and community!
Photo by Gary Meulemans on Unsplash.
