2021 WORCA AGM + Toonie Ride
Notice of WORCA Annual General Meeting
Date: Thursday 30th September 2021
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Location: Cinnamon Bear Grille, 4050 Whistler Way, Whistler, BC V8E 1H9
Pre-registration is required to attend the WORCA AGM. We will also be running a Toonie Ride before the AGM. Click Here for registration details.
Proof of vaccination will be required to enter the Cinnamon Bear Grille.
Board of Directors Election
Several director positions are up for election and the nominations received are as follows:
Vice President: Omer Dagan (incumbent)
Trails: Scott Veach (incumbent)
Events: Quinn Lanzon (incumbent)
Secretary: Kayla Dodson, Gavin Brown, Andrew Lord
Advocacy: Val Chan, Alison McMahon
Race: Kat Pohran
Nominee details:
Val Chan
Nomination for the Advocacy Director position.
In Australia, I have a background in sport and the outdoor industry. Specifically:
University degree with majors in sport management, sport science and PE Teaching
10 years teaching outdoor education
5 years working in high performance sport
I have previously served on the executive committee for my university soccer club, and local mountain bike club (Canberra Off Road Cycle Club). This first hand experience, in addition with university study has given me a comprehensive understanding of sport governance, programming and development.
In 2017 I moved to Whistler with the intent to follow my passion for biking, and work in the mountain bike industry. WORCA has played a pivotal role in fulfilling these goals. I feel incredibly lucky to have access to such an amazing trail network, and be in a position where I can share the sport and trails with others. For the past 5 summers, I have worked as a coach/guide with a variety of programs, including WORCA Dirt Camps. I value and appreciate the important work WORCA has done over the past 30 years. It has had a huge impact on my time in Whistler, and decision to call Whistler home.
I am passionate about growing the sport, and encouraging a positive, welcoming culture within the mountain bike community. As a female, of Asian ethnicity, I recognize the barriers to the sport, and mountain culture. I feel my experience working in sport (in addition to my cultural background), offer a unique and valuable voice in shaping the future of the organization and bike community in Whistler.
I would love the opportunity to serve on the Board to have input in the direction WORCA takes next year and beyond. My current circumstances allow me to commit to the volunteer role for the next 12 months.
Two WORCA members that support my nomination: Samantha White and Huw Jones.
Kayla Dodson
Running for the Secretary position.
I believe that I would make a strong candidate for the WORCA position due to my experience sitting on sport governing and performance boards such as Sport Canada’s High Performance Advisory Committee, the Women in Sport Science network and the World Paralympic Alpine Skiing Working Group. I am an organized person and can create flow and direction within a group of people.
For my full time job, I work as a sport scientist for the Canadian Paralympic Alpine Ski team, which may limit my capacity to be in full attendance at some points during the year (ski season). Other years, such as Olympic years, will be busier than others in terms of me physically being away, but I am always in Whistler for the spring and summers! I will also be available remotely as much as I can when I am away for camps. I am interested in being involved on the WORCA board because I love being a part of the community and bringing people together doing the things we love the most, such as biking, trail building and organizing/being a part of events for a good cause. With Whistler being such a MTB dominated community I believe there is a huge opportunity to create platforms to bring people together and to feel a part of their community, to give back or find something they may be passionate about. I’d love to join like-minded individuals who enjoy riding bikes, building trails and sharing these passions with others.
Dale Mikkelsen and Layla d'Emanuele support my nomination.
Gavin Brown
I'd like to submit my name for nomination to the WORCA Board of Directors for the position of Secretary.
I've held a multitude of senior roles in the public sector and private business over the last 20 years and have a solid track record in building, motivating and managing organizations to deliver results. Previous roles include time with IMD (Lausanne, CH), Deloitte (NYC, USA) and Ivey Business School (London, ON). In each of these roles I had responsibility for delivering business results along with stakeholder management and governance.
My family and I are full time residents of Whistler and I have the capacity to commit to a volunteer role with WORCA. I'm motivated to join the WORCA board to serve my community and an activity that I've been involved in since the mid-80's. The work that WORCA does to ensure that all of our community can access and enjoy a wide variety of sustainable, world class trails is critical to the quality of life I, my family and a broad cross section of Whistler residents and visitor enjoy. I want to contribute to that work.
WORCA members Mischa Fox and Jana McLean have both agreed to support my nomination.
Alison McMahon
Running for Director of Advocacy
I moved to Whistler in 2019 and fell in love with mountain biking. It is one of the main ways I spend my free time. Moving here during COVID made integrating into the community a bit more difficult than normal, and joining WORCA and signing up for a virtual toonie pass was a great way to start to learn about the trails in the area. Since then WORCA has been a great way to connect with the mtb community; I've had the opportunity to volunteer for The Back Forty and participate in trail nights.
I'm excited to apply for the Board position of Director of Advocacy. In this position I will draw on my long history of volunteer and board experience, as well as my extensive experience in Human Resources, and Diversity & Inclusion projects.
In my day job I'm a female business owner, and a HR expert who has been invited to speak as a subject matter expert in Diversity & Inclusion in other community groups. This makes me particularly suited for the position as I've facilitated conversations and assisted with D&I action plans in the past. I'm passionate, a strong collaborator, and brimming with ideas to bring forward to the Board and membership.
Mountain biking is a source of joy, a way to share time with friends, and keeps me healthy. The opportunity to be involved with and give back to the mountain biking community is exciting to me. Thank you for considering my application.
The two WORCA members that support my nomination are Colin Cribbin and Alexander Steele.
To see Alison's full application CLICK HERE.
Andrew Lord
I'd like to throw my name in the hat for one of the open board seats, specifically the position of Secretary. As detailed below, I'm a recovering Toronto corporate lawyer that moved my family to Whistler almost 2 years ago. We've fallen in love with the place, in large part due the awesome riding that WORCA makes possible. I've tried to give back at Trail Nights and would like to see if I can help as a Board member too.
In terms of relevant skills and experience, I have been a corporate lawyer for about 15 years. Prior to March of this year, I was a partner in a global law firm called DLA Piper. Most of my work focused on renewable energy, but I was also fortunate to assist a number of not-for-profit clients, including several student unions, an environmental organization that recovered waste agricultural plastics, and a startup incubator. My work with those member-driven not-for-profits included improving their governance, assessing operational risk, and negotiating funding and partnership agreements. I would offer that experience to assist with any similar issues WORCA may face. (One little asterisk on my qualifications - because we lawyers love the fine print: I did not get licensed to practice law in BC when we moved to Whistler, as my work was still back in Ontario where I am licensed.)
I'm somewhat new to Whistler, having moved my family from Toronto in January 2020 (talk about lucky timing) in search of better skiing and biking. Like so many people I have met here, our original plan of staying for 6 months quickly turned into staying full time. Initially, I kept working full time at DLA Piper "in Toronto" (virtually). But in early 2021, I decided to switch gears professionally and am now working part time with a renewable energy developer. That change has freed up a bunch of time and energy, a lot of which has been spent on my bike (still levelling up from Ontario riding to BC ripping). I have been absolutely blown away by the size and quality of the trail network that WORCA maintains. I have been equally impressed by the way riders support the organization. My wife, boys and I are all members. I have been a regular volly on Tuesday nights and got my 13-year-old twins hooked on digging trail this spring (unfortunately the Bike Park sidelined me with a broken collarbone in July and I'm not quite back to mattock-swinging shape yet). I'm now hoping to help with some of the heavy lifting that the Board does off the trail.
I've spoken to Craig Allars (a longtime Whistler resident) and Andrew Burton (a colleague from DLA Piper who figured out years before I did how to do that job from Whistler) about my nomination. Both are WORCA members (and riding buddies) and are supportive.
Kat Pohran
Running for Race Director
I have over 10 years of work experience in event coordination and sponsor management (with recent event involvement including Crankworx and Darkhorse). Additionally, I have extensive experience working with Provincial and National Sport Organizations in their events, competitions and officials management sectors, where included volunteer coordination, sponsor/ vendor relations, budget building and adherence, athlete management, and onsite operations. I am organized, efficient, and adaptable, with these skills lending strongly to the Race Director role, and keen to build out any additional skills needed for this role.
Since starting mountain biking, I have recognized the importance of community for the sport's development (and the strength of this within the Sea to Sky biking community!) and would be excited for the opportunity to use my skills to contribute to such a strong and progressive board. I'm confident in my ability to commit to this volunteer role for the Race Director position, based on the estimated hours from conversations with former board members.
Bernard Nadeau and Emilie Whittemore support my nomination.