Hooray, hooray, it’s the first of May!!
All the trainers and owners across the country will be asking the race secretaries: when do the schooling races or the two-year-old qualifiers begin? It’s an exciting time of year!!!
By the time you read this column, the name of the new President & CEO of Standardbred Canada should have been announced, or will be within days.
I would like to dedicate this column to updating you on details of the entire process, as I believe this is the biggest decision the Directors have had to make since the amalgamation of CTA/CSHS over ten years ago.
At this point, on behalf of myself, all past and present Directors, staff and the entire standardbred industry here and abroad, I would like to wish Ted and Deborah Smith the very best in retirement. The industry will never find a more dedicated and passionate person in our great sport than Ted. On a personal note, thanks Ted, for all of the support and guidance you have given me, especially as Chair for the past three years.
When Ted informed the Executive Committee of his retirement plans, they recommended that the Board to hire an executive search company. The Board agreed and I honestly believe the process had to be transparent for you, the members and the future of SC. The firm of Caldwell Partners International was hired under the guidance of Heather Ring, Ron Charles, and with support from Malou Oducado. I can’t thank them enough for guiding us through this process. I don’t think 28 Directors (most of whom have full-time jobs), spread across the country, could have done a proper job.
The first thing Caldwell did was talk to industry stakeholders and invite people to comment on what the role of the new President & CEO should be. The ideas from those 50 conversations were presented (confidentially and without attribution) to a new Selection Committee formed from SC Directors. The stakeholder feedback was also used to create a ‘role profile,’ which the Committee approved. The opportunity was advertised, and, between Caldwell contacts and applicants, 99 individuals were contacted.
With some guidance from the Selection Committee in refining the criteria, Caldwell then contacted 50 candidates a second time and they interviewed the candidates who were closest to the profile. Caldwell presented a long list of nine candidates to the Selection Committee, six of whom were interviewed by the Committee. Those six candidates were narrowed down to three and they had a second interview with the Executive Committee. Following those interviews, an offer was made to the first choice, to be accepted and ratified by the Board with a new President & Chief Executive Officer of Standardbred Canada to be announced. Between the two Committees, I would like to thank (in particular) Ross Galbraith, Chuck Ibey, Eric Johnston, Rick Karper, Chuck Keeling, Jim Lehman, Tammy McNiven, Dr. Maurice Stewart, David Stuart and Richard Veilleux -- the Directors who dedicated so much time to the process and had to make some VERY TOUGH DECISIONS!!! (Just a reminder – all Directors are volunteers and quite often take holidays from their regular jobs or pay someone to replace them in order to fulfill their Standardbred Canada obligations).
A couple of major achievements did take place since my last column; Brian Sears nailed down driving win number 7,000 and Rebecca Uppal, nine-year-old daughter of Fraser Downs track announcer Rick Uppal, got her first owner’s win with Custom Crafted.
Until next month!
A monthly newsletter from Standardbred Canada’s Chair of the Board of Directors.