2009 – The Year in Review
Chair's Comments
Annual General Meeting, October 1, 2009
By Terry Spencer
It is with pleasure and a privilege to have this opportunity to highlight some of the strategic and operational activities, as well as key accomplishments of the Ontario Chapter for 2009. I have endeavoured to be succinct, as Committee Chairs and Board members will address in more detail the specific activities and accomplishments of their respective committee or portfolio.
For 2009 the CES-ON Board was almost at full compliment. Though the position of Vice-Chair remained unfilled, all other officer and director positions were filled with a highly dedicated and committed group of volunteers. The CES-ON Board was especially excited by the recruitment of Brenton Faubert to the Student Committee Chair and who also assumed the role of Board Secretary. Regrettably though, Keiko Kuji-Shikatani had to resign her position as National Council Representative for the Ontario Chapter, as a result of her appointment as Vice-President, Professional Designation at National Council. Terry Spencer was voted in as the Ontario Chapter’s representative on National Council.
As noted by National Council, the Professional Designation – Credentialed Evaluator (CE) project is intended to bring greater clarity and definition to the profession of evaluation in Canada. This is an innovative and pivotal initiative for the Canadian Evaluation Society. As has been previously documented Keiko has been a long standing champion of CES-ON and the Ontario Chapter has benefited immeasurably from her visionary and passionate leadership. We will greatly miss Keiko’s influence and we wish her great success in her new role on National Council Vice-President, Professional Designation.
The CES-ON Board conducted eight board meetings via teleconference since the time of the last Annual General Meeting (October 7, 2008). In addition, a face-to-face orientation session for all Board members was convened in January and the Board also participated in a face-to-face strategic planning session in June.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight just a few of the significant accomplishments of the Board and Chapter for 2009 in relation to the committees that took a lead role in the design and execution of the initiative. Each committee is chaired or co-chaired by a Board member.
The Advocacy Committee was chaired by Mina Singh who is in her second year on the Board. The Advocacy Committee was the first committee to advance their operational plan for the year and the Committee continues to take the lead regarding the Evaluator of Excellence Awards. Mina was very capably and strongly supported in her role by her dedicated committee members.
The Board Development Committee co-chaired by Nancy Russell and Natalie Sibille played a key role in facilitating the Board’s strategic planning session convened on June 13, 2009. Nancy began serving on the Board in 2008 while this is Natalie’s first year on the Board. Nancy and Natalie along with the rest of the Board Development Committee will also be working towards revising the Board’s Orientation Manual, a much needed but time-consuming endeavour. The CES-ON Board has benefited immensely from Nancy’s and Natalie’s dedication and commitment to organizational effectiveness.
As noted earlier, the CES-ON Board of Directors in 2009 decided to undergo a formal and systematic strategic planning renewal process, in light of various environmental influences, and on-going changes and challenges within the profession of evaluation. Though the CES-ON Board has previously engaged in a number of strategic planning and visioning activities, the Board wanted to be very clear about its strategic directions and priorities for the next three years, as well as have in place a well conceived implementation plan. CES-ON contracted the professional services of SHERCON ASSOCIATES INC to facilitate the Chapter’s strategic planning process. A number of strategic planning tools and processes were employed throughout interactive session including reflections and predictions, SWOT analysis, environmental scan and visioning. The Strategic Plan is currently being updated in response to feedback from the Board Directors, as well as feedback and input from CES-ON committees and members. The Strategic Plan along with an updated mission and vision statement will be posted soon on the Chapter’s website.
Another spectacular annual CES-ON conference was organized this year under the superb leadership of Nichole Fraser MacDonald in her second year on the Board, as well as Shirley Von Sychowski who came on to the Board this year. These two co-chairs along with their very committed and dedicated Conference Committee members have worked tirelessly in organizing and executing this year’s annual conference. Nichole and Shirley and the rest of the Conference Committee continue to demonstrate their talent for innovation and creativity in conference planning and this year, in particular, has striven hard to build strategic partnerships with other organizations involved in evaluation.
Our Communication Committee is very ably chaired by Scot Cholewa who began his term on the CES-ON Board in 2008. Scott has continued to do a stellar job of enhancing all of the ON Chapter’s communication vehicles. This year Scott and the Communications Committee revamped the format of the member’s newsletter so as to make it more appealing to the membership, as well as enhanced and refined the Chapter’s website. Scott took the lead role on the Board in developing the Membership Needs Survey which was disseminated to the membership this past spring. The feedback derived from the membership survey has served to inform the strategic and operational plans of all the committees and an action plan template was created by Scott for all committees to use as a summary document.
Hubert Paulmer has served admirably for the past two years as the Treasurer and Co-Chair of the Finance Committee. Even though Hubert took up residence in Ottawa, as well as embarked on an exciting vocational opportunity earlier this year, he very graciously offered to continue to provide excellent fiscal leadership and stewardship to the Chapter. As Hubert is now residing within the Ottawa region he will be now affiliated with the National Capital Chapter. The CES-ON Chapter has benefitted enormously from Hubert’s financial expertise and prudent counsel and though we will miss him very much, we wish Hubert the very best of success in his new transitions.
Seema Opal who joined the CES-ON Board last year and who also co-chairs the Finance Committee along with Hubert has worked very closely with all the Board committees this year and through their combined efforts and along with the rest of the Finance Committee have greatly enhanced the Board’s budgeting procedures and processes. The CES-ON Board is very fortunate to have Seema assume the principal fiscal leadership role on the Board. Seema has worked very diligently and expertly in understanding all of the various committee structures and will undoubtedly continue to be a tremendous asset to the Board’s and Chapter’s effective functioning.
Jim McTavish served as Chair of the Membership Committee this past year. Jim is completing his third year on the CES-ON Board and during his tenure and along with other members of the Membership Committee has steadfastly engaged the membership and advocated on their behalf. Jim’s wise counsel is very much appreciated during Board discussions and he has immeasurably contributed to the successful operation of several other Board committees. In collaboration with Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, National Council Representative Jim played a lead role in facilitating the member consultations and feedback concerning the Professional Designation – Credentialed Evaluator project in March and April of this year. Jim also took the lead role in the Evaluator’s Marketplace project.
The Professional Development Committee was expertly co-chaired by Megan Borner and Sue Behari McGinty this past year. The distributed and shared leadership style displayed by Megan and Sue was exemplary. Under their leadership and along with the active contributions of the other members of the Professional Development Committee organized and executed close to, if not a record breaking number of professional learning workshops for members and new members this past year. Workshops offered included two Essential Skills Series sessions, Performance Measurement, Logic Models, Survey Design and for the first time a two day workshop on Qualitative Methods led by Dr. Christine Frank.
As mentioned previously Brenton Faubert served as the Chair of the Student Committee this past year. Brenton has approached the Student Committee Chair role, as well as serving as Board Secretary with resolute commitment and dedication and he along with his committee members are advocating strongly on behalf of student members. Through Brenton’s and his committee’s efforts the Chapter hopes to enhance the profile of CES-ON to students and enhance our mentoring efforts to students. Toward this end the Ontario Chapter contributed $500.00 this past year to the Student Case Competition which was held during the 2009 CES Conference in Ottawa last May.
I would also like to note that one of our members Martha McGuire who was also a previous Board member was nominated by the Ontario Chapter for the Contribution to Evaluation Award in Canada Award. Martha won the award and was celebrated during the CES Conference in Ottawa.
On a very special note I would like to extend to Erica Procter my heart-felt thanks for her exemplary leadership within the Ontario Chapter and beyond and more personally for her mentorship of me during this past year. Erica is moving on to another life transition (i.e., motherhood) and her term on the CES-ON Board is coming to a close and at least for the time being. Erica was the Past Chair on the CES-ON but over the past number of years has taken on many leadership roles and during her tenure has truly dedicated herself to the betterment of the Ontario Chapter. I could not have asked for a more engaging, supportive, nor skillful mentor. Without question Erica will be greatly missed on the Board, her wisdom during Board discussions is unsurpassed, we wish Erica and her family all the best.
The CES-ON Chapter is blessed with the talents and expertise of two staff members, Sue Moore our Book Keeper and Elana Gray, our Membership and Events Registrar. I would like to thank Sue and Elana for their dedication and commitment and often times going above and beyond in the performance of their mission critical duties and tasks on behalf of the Ontario Chapter.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the dedication, commitment and expertise of all the members who have volunteered their time and efforts in one or another to the CES-ON Chapter. Our success as a Chapter very much depends on the strength of our volunteerism.
I am pleased that many of the current Board members are returning as sustained capacity building is integral to an organization’s success. I also very much welcome new members to the Board, so as to ideally strike that optimal balance between the benefits of continuity and engaging new and diverse perspectives. I am confident our Strategic Plan (2009 -2012) will serve as a dynamic guiding framework for our future directions.
It’s an exciting time to be in the profession of evaluation. The year of 2010 holds much promise and potential.
Terry Spencer
Chair, 2009 CES-ON 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:
