At its recent 2021 Annual Meeting, held virtually, the membership of Canada Artistic Swimming (CAS) elected three board members and also bid farewell to the longest-serving active board member, Judi Enns Bradette. She was first elected to the board in 2015 and had been its president for the past four years. Also stepping down from the Board was Deana Shaw.
The incoming board members are Florence Klein from Québec, who was re-elected for a second three-year term. Jessica Rutledge from Toronto was elected as a new board member for a three-year term and Dawn Wilson from Victoria will serve a two-year term.
In her time with the board, Judi Enns Bradette demonstrated her progressive and innovative leadership. She fostered best-in-class governance practices for CAS, including overseeing the revision of CAS By-Laws and policies, and revising the CAS strategic plan, ensuring it remained current and focused. She also introduced new systems for performance management for the board, along with recruitment strategies, and built strong relationships with CAS’ provincial partners. As well, she implemented a revamped evaluation process for the CEO, and hiring practices for national team coaches. With a life-long background in the sport as a participant and coach, she understood the need for our athletes to succeed on the world stage. Using her strong fiscal management skills and affinity for High Performance programming, she championed the advancement of the athlete pathway and national team programming. She also understood the need to bring the sport to new and wider audiences and promoted the Canada-wide adoption of the inclusive AquaGO! recreational program. Her steadfast leadership, adhering to policies and procedures, was crucial as she steered the organization through the turbulent and complex complaint process this past year.
While modest about her own achievements, CAS has grown and thrived under her leadership. Judi does note a personal highlight of her time as CAS President,
“It was a true joy to witness the Canadian duet and team win gold medals at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. To see them qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games there, surrounded by most of the Team Canada support network, and then share the remarkable journey that took them all to their best finish since 2012 at Tokyo2020, then seeing them celebrate together, was a series of truly memorable moments.”
Although only serving one year on the board, Deana Shaw from Toronto was a key contributor to the marketing and communication work of the board, bringing her professional expertise and artistic swimming background to this important area of growth for the organization.
Incoming Board Members
Beginning her first three-year term on the Board, Jessica Rutledge has combined her love of sports with a career in marketing. She competed in a variety of sports including artistic swimming, and also coached in the sport. She has worked with professional and high-performance athletes from many different sports as she oversaw a wide range of marketing activities. Jessica looks forward to bringing her communications and marketing expertise to enhance and grow the CAS brand.
Now retired from her teaching/administrative career, Dawn Wilson believes in bringing patience, persistence and diplomacy to the CAS board. She sees these strengths as very important in establishing and maintaining a collaborative atmosphere and building trust and respect. Dawn also understands the volunteer experience at the club level, having been involved with organizing everything from meets to social events to serving on several different boards.
Re-elected to another three-year term, Florence Klein brings a background in the legal profession along with many years of volunteering with artistic swimming to the board. She understands the sport from many different perspectives, as a master artistic swimmer, a parent, club president, Natation Artistique Québec vice-president, chairing several CAS committees and serving as CAS vice-president. She is excited to bring her experience and expertise to enhance the sport.
Remaining on the CAS Board are Elise Truscott from Saskatoon, SK, Jason Herbert, from Vancouver, BC, Lindsay Duncan from Montreal, QC, and Sara Hart from Edmonton, AB. Olivia Zawadiuk from Vancouver, BC remains as the Athlete Council Chair and Athlete Representative. The newly elected board will follow the prescribed process to elect a new President and Vice-President internally within the next three weeks.