OTTAWA — The Canadian Paralympic Committee has named Catherine Gosselin-Despres as executive director of sport.
Gosselin-Despres was formerly the chief executive officer of Synchro Canada, where she led sport technical and administrative personnel in the creation and implementation of a new strategic plan for the organization.
Gosselin-Despres will focus on areas such as high performance programs and athlete recruitment and retention with the CPC.
“We are truly excited to welcome Catherine to the CPC leadership team,” CPC chief executive officer Karen O’Neill said in a statement. “Catherine has a strong track record as a sport technical leader within the Canadian sport community and is an outstanding choice to build on the success of the CPC.”
Prior to joining Synchro Canada, Catherine worked at CanoeKayak Canada as program co-ordinator. She was responsible for developing and implementing the Paddle All initiative for people with a disability at the grassroots level, which resulted later in a great advocacy to have canoe and kayak included in the Paralympic Games program.
Gosselin-Despres is set to start Nov. 4.
“I’m very excited about joining the CPC and leading a very talented and dedicated group of individuals,” Gosselin-Despres said in a statement. “The CPC has laid such a great foundation through the leadership of Rob Needham (former Executive Director of Sport) and I’m looking forward to working with our sport community to continue building a vibrant and sustainable parasport system.”