It is an honor for me to be elected as the President of ICF Ottawa Chapter, an organization with a proud past and an exciting future. As I refer to its proud past, I wish to acknowledge the achievements of our outgoing president, Dawn Firestone.
We have benefitted so much from her term as president. Her leadership of the organization was steady and deliberate, but most of all had a clear vision for the changes that ICF Ottawa Chapter needed. Under her leadership, the ICF Ottawa Chapter became a better organization with stronger governance and clearer vision and strategy suited to the times, especially during these pandemic days.
Dawn, thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication. It was a pleasure working with you while trying to find creative solutions for the challenges we faced.
Now to the future… Over the next two years, we will continue to build on our strengths and move in new directions. Our new Board will be as follows:
- Dawn Firestone – Past President
- Hazel Bazinet – Membership
- Vicki Schmidt – Secretary
- Parvin Kolahdooz – Digital Communications
- Lauri Prest – Communications
- Suzanne Gagnon – Treasurer
- Ariane Jaubert – Director of Programing
As the Board, our vision will encompass a number of objectives. We would like to be considered as a club for our members. As coaching is a relatively lonely business, we would like to be a connection point for our members to share and grow, personally and professionally. We consider professional growth in two ways. The first one is the technical growth in coaching, and the second is our business growth. As we grow, we will also focus on promoting coaching within the community.
During these difficult times of the pandemic, coaching is one of the most important tools we should have. It is important now while we are still experiencing constant changes as we live through the pandemic. However, it will also be crucial during the post-pandemic phase, when we will be healing from what we had gone through.
We will continue to offer, with an open mind and open heart, different kinds of programs and projects for our members’ personal and professional growth.
Book Club is a new event that will be launched in the upcoming months and organized
Lunch & Learn will continue quarterly
Panel discussions will continue quarterly
Community Calls will continue monthly
We will announce different kinds of projects like peer coaching, reverse mentoring and pro-bono coaching for non-profit organizations.
Please stay tuned for an announcement of upcoming programs and projects and also, please visit our pages on social media;
Make coaching an integral part of Ottawa society where every ICF Member represents the highest quality of professional coaching!
Elif Suner – MBA, M.Ed., PCC, CTDP