2010 – The Year in Review
Chair's Comments
Annual General Meeting, October 4, 2010
By Scott Cholewa
Each year it is a tradition and privilege for the outgoing Chair to begin the Board’s Annual General Meeting by sharing some of the key accomplishments of the Board, and offering thanks to those who have contributed to these accomplishments.
This past year we have been fortunate to have a full Board complement of 13 members. I’d like to take the time to thank all of our current Board members for their hard work, dedication, and contributions to the Board over the past year!
As a full Board we undertook a number of activities this year. We held two in-person meetings as well as six teleconferences on a monthly basis. Our in-person meetings focused largely on finalizing out Strategic Plan, Strategic Goals, Operational Plan, Logic Model and team building activities. As a result of the commitment of all Board members we have achieved a number of labor intensive projects atypical of volunteer Boards.
As a Chapter of the larger Canadian Evaluation Society we entered uncharted territory and launched the CE Designation Program. Currently many individuals are embarking on the road to obtaining their Credentialed Evaluator Designation and we’d like to wish everyone success. The Chapter has also indicated an interest to the broader Society of our interest to host the 2013 CES National Conference.
In the interest of being succinct I will provide you with a brief summary of key activities of our various committees as we will be hearing more from the respective Chairs shortly.
The Advocacy Committee, co-chaired by Terry Spencer and Mina Singh, was charged with conducting a variety of initiatives to raise the awareness of evaluation and CES-Ontario at various events. The committee is also responsible for the facilitation of the Evaluator of Excellence Awards.
The Board Development Committee, co-chaired by Nancy Russell and Natalie Sibille, made great strides in organizing the in-person meetings and the development of the Board Manual, Operational Plan, Strategic Plan and new policies and procedures. We look forward to additional Board activities in 2011.
The Communications Committee, chaired by Andrea Johnston, took the lead on updating the website, disseminating newsletters, and in 2011 will begin to overhaul the CES-Ontario Website ensuring its relevance to our membership.
The Conference Committee, chaired by Shirley Von Sychowski, has put on yet another wonderful conference. Shirley and her committee strive to ensure that each conference builds on the successes of previous conferences and improves on challenges experienced. We hope you are enjoying this year’s conference. Shirley’s expertise will be instrumental when planning the 2013 National Conference.
The Finance Committee, chaired by our Treasurer Seema Opal, has initiated an audit as well as developed processes and procedures to ensure that our accounts are in a stable financial position and we are accurately monitoring expenses. Seema also spearheaded a change in our banking from two financial institutions to one resulting in cost-savings for the Chapter.
The Membership Committee, chaired by Jim McTavish has developed and implemented the Ontario Evaluators Marketplace, an on-line community for evaluation practitioners to advertise their services within the CES-Ontario Chapter website. Jim has also endeavored on a brief needs assessment to identify some membership engagement activities that would be of use to the Chapter membership.
The Nominations Committee, chaired by Terry Spencer underwent some changes and is now a subcommittee of the Board Development committee. Terry successfully recruited our 13 Board member this year, France Gagon.
The Professional Development Committee, co-chaired by Megan Borner & Sue Behari has been busy as ever with a variety of professional development opportunities for our membership. Current offerings include the essential skills series, survey design, qualitative methods, logic models and… Megan and Sue are always keeping an eye out for the next learning opportunity that would benefit our membership.
The Student Committee, chaired by Brenton Faubert has been busy recruiting and maintaining a roster of students on his committee. Brenton and his committee are in the process of developing an internship service on the website that would partner students with organizations offering internships in evaluation.
Our National Council representative, Terry Spencer has remained our ear to the ground on all matters related to the National Society. Terry has been able to keep our Chapter abreast to changes as a result of the Credentialing process.
We would like to also thank Elana Gray for the registrar and organizational services she provides. Elana goes well beyond what is asked of her, in terms of responding to inquiries and answering questions about the Chapter and the Board. We greatly appreciate Elana’s dedication to the Board. Elana’s organization and attention to detail have been invaluable in providing our professional development workshops and today’s conference.
We must also thank our bookkeeper, Sue Moore, for her attention to detail and hard work in ensuring we follow appropriate financial procedures.
Last but not least, we would like to thank all of the other volunteers who have given their time, energy, and dedication to the Chapter.
The year of 2011 promises to be exciting as we begin to charter new ground. The role of our volunteer Board members is extremely important to the success of the Chapter and I’d be remiss if I did not thank them enough.
Respectfully,
Scott Cholewa
Chair
Canadian Evaluation Society – Ontario Chapter Board of Directors
Year in Reviews
Here, please find the annual Year in Reviews, which provide reports from the Board, Treasurer, and each Committee chair on activities in the chapter over the past years:
