Big changes at the club board

When seventy percent of members are new to the board or in new roles, exciting changes are certain to occur.

Helen Bailey, Club Secretary, and Robert Verhagen, Land Steward Director, are busy in their past roles which have expanded to assisting others on the board.

Carl Alexander, Landowner Relations and Land Securement Director, is developing a team approach to manage trail maintenance and development.

New club member Stephen Crocker has started working with Carl to understand the trail and its issues.

Maria Burton, Membership Director, is leading a team to identify what our current members most cherish about our club, to help us understand what specific values we offer to our local communities.

While our seven new board members are just starting to understand how the board and club work, they are already making significant contributions to how we organize and focus our efforts.

Marianne Dzuba, Volunteer Coordinator, is working to structure our volunteer database and establish project management protocols for our recurring events such as Bruce Trail Day, Fundraising Hike, and volunteer appreciation.

Helen Bailey and Carol Waffler along with new board members Jill Johnson and Alison Campbell, are assisting Marianne.

After ten years on the board, Peter Blackmere is retiring this December and has found someone he knows will ably replace him. We shall miss Peter’s dry humour and clear counsel. Alison Campbell, our new Treasurer, comes with Peter’s endorsement and many years of experience in the world of high finance.

New to the club, Martina Riley has initiated and chairs our new Biodiversity Committee. This team will implement Bruce Trail Conservancy efforts to strengthen biodiversity along the trail and throughout our nature reserves. Martina will be supported on the committee by Robert Verhagen.

Carol Waffler, IT Director, has perhaps the largest learning curve of us all but has demonstrated her abilities as a quick study and is managing our website and related document library.

Bill Duron joined the BTC board as our club representative. You will perhaps best know him as the host of the Jim Cuddy Jamboree. He is already bringing a new perspective on the value our Bruce Trail lands offer our local community.

Tom Thayer has a new role as Hike Director and a bucketful of new hike ideas. He also provides backroom support for Carol in her IT role.

And then there is me, your past BTC board club representative and new club President. I must admit it feels like a whirlwind at times, but I am thrilled to be swept along by the energy of our new board’s initiatives.

 

John Dickason