Welcoming our new Board Chair, Board Directors, and President & CEO
PolicyWise for Children & Families is continuing to celebrate 20 years of impacting meaningful change.
As part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, we held our Annual General Meeting on September 22, 2023, in Edmonton at the Matrix Hotel. We welcomed our members, partners, and stakeholders to hear about our important work over the previous year. Those in attendance also witnessed several big changes to PolicyWise.
The first change they saw was our newly appointed Board Chair, Michelle Okere, leading the meeting. Michelle has been on PolicyWise’s Board of Directors since 2021. Last year, she served as the Vice-Chair with a commitment to become the Board Chair this summer, following the end of Dr. Jackie Sieppert’s term.
PolicyWise also welcomed MacEwan University as a new member of our organization. The university officially became a member on February 23, 2023. This was the first Annual General Meeting where they actively participated.
Our members also unanimously voted to reappoint four returning Board Directors and add four new ones for two-year terms.
The four reappointed Board Directors are:
- Dr. Robbie Babins-Wagner
- James Grattan
- Mark Razzolini
- Rod Rode
The four new Board Directors are:
- Sheri H. Easterbrook
- Jessica Hutton
- Zakk Morrison
- Ebony Rempel
We are grateful to our Board of Directors for their time, energy, and wisdom as they guide our organization.
Those in attendance also saw the transition of PolicyWise’s President & CEO. Our outgoing President & CEO, Robyn Blackadar, highlighted PolicyWise’s accomplishments over the past year, noting key projects, new staff, and several organizational achievements. She reflected on her eleven years at PolicyWise and welcomed our new President & CEO, Kristine Williamson. Kristine introduced herself to the attendees. This was her first public event in her new role.
The meeting ended with the launch of PolicyWise’s new capacity-building resources website, Resources for Practice. Those in attendance learned that the new website provides a curated collection of resources recently created by PolicyWise and other organizations focused on the well-being of children, youth, families, and communities. It directly links to webinars, tools, and strategies, among other types of resources that can support decision making and practice across the social serving sector in Alberta. All resources on the website are freely available to use and share.
Learn more about the impact we made this past year by reading our 2022-2023 Annual Report.
