Voting for the CMAT Board of Directors (BOD) is now open!

Tuesday October 2, 2012 – As indicated in previous emails to voting members, one of the key functions of the AGM is to hold elections for the positions on the Board. Nominations were accepted and processed, and the following individuals were acclaimed as board members:

Board Chair
Dr. Rocco Lombardi – Port Perry, Ontario

Vice Chair
Kathy Harms – New Westminster, British Columbia

Executive Director
Valerie Rzepka – Toronto, Ontario

Secretary/ Treasurer
Deb Exelby – Victoria, British Columbia

The following positions received multiple nominees.

– Response Coordinator
– Communications Officer

CLICK HERE to download and print the ballot and follow the ballot instructions for mailing. 

Any one individual may only hold one position on the BOD. If one nominee is the successful candidate for more than one position, the successful candidate will choose one position. The nominee with the second largest number of votes will then be named the successful candidate for the position not selected.

CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES (in alphabetical order)

Kate Auger – Collingwood, Ontario.
Running for Response Coordinator or Communications Officer. 

“Greetings!!  My name is Kate Auger. Im currently running for the Response Coordinator or Communications Officer with Canadian Medical Assistance Teams. I was deployed in 2010 to Haiti as part of Team 3 and want to be more involved with CMAT.

I currently work as a nurse practitioner in Collingwood, Ontario. I also work casually in Ontario’s north on remote fly in native reservations where public health and lack of resources are a daily concern. I have recently started my Masters of Science with a specialty in Infectious Diseases. This experience helps me understand the needs of both the people we are helping during times of disaster as well as our volunteer teams.

I ask for your vote for response coordinator as I am keen to be involved in the deployment process. I understand how important it is to have a wide variety of experience on each team and how complicated this process can be. I will work with the team to ensure that each person is considered fairly and without bias for deployment. When communicating with team leads in the field, I will make myself accessible and at all times be open minded and approachable. There are many training opportunities which I would like to work with CMAT to coordinate and ensure availability to members. As a new member in this role I will be open to feedback on how to manage specific issues and I look forward to working with other new and returning board members.

Alternately, I ask for your vote for Communications Officer. I would like to be part of the group that continues to improve all methods of communication to both current and potential CMAT volunteers, their families and the public. This will be done by email lists, newsletters and frequent updating of the website. Canadian Medical Assistance Team already has a great website but with your feedback, ill be able to make it better. I will ensure that your friends and family are updated while you are away on deployment through website updates and email updates. I will ensure that correspondence with the media is at all times professional and accurate.

I have the time and commitment to making either of these roles even better than they already are. But, I need your help. I ask for your vote to both of these roles. Then, once elected, I ask for your feedback on how these roles could be improved for the future.

Together, we can make Canadian Medical Assistance Teams the strongest and most cohesive volunteer organization.”

Kate Auger
Nurse Practitioner
Collingwood, Ontario

(Justin) Rashad Chin – Edmonton, Alberta.
Running for Response Coordinator

“Dear CMAT voting members,

I am honored to be nominated for the position of Response Coordinator. The following is a brief description of my background and experiences that i feel make me a strong candidate for the position.

I am a resident emergency physician completing my final year in the Royal College Fellowship program. As emergency medicine lends itself readily to disaster medicine, I continue to find ongoing interest in the area. In particular, this interest began in 2010, when I became a member of CMAT and travelled on my first mission to post-earthquake Haiti. I learned many things about disaster medicine response and myself, namely that this is a field that I have an aptitude for, as well as a love and interest in. Within three months of my first mission, I gained more experience with two additional trips to Haiti, as well as one to Pakistan after the flooding in 2010. On this mission, I was able to take on many more aspects of the response as team leader. In addition, I am currently expanding on my knowledge and skills in disaster response, completing my master’s degree with the European Master’s in Disaster Medicine (EMDM), and publishing research on disaster response, the area of my thesis. With my previous field experience, and the formal training I am pursuing, I plan on bringing energy and dedication to this field though the CMAT board. I also plan on connecting CMAT with other experts and organizations that I have networked with through the EMDM, and its alumni.

Thank you for your consideration for this board position, through which I will help lead CMAT, bringing experience and education, to optimize our organization and our response to future disasters.”

Dr. Rashad Chin
Edmonton, Alberta

Bill Coltart – Comox, British Columbia. (INCUMBENT)
Running for Communications Officer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Johnson – Vancouver, British Columbia. Running for Response Coordinator 

“Focused, strategic, and effective under pressure: I am a proven Transportation, Logistics, Security, and Search and Rescue leader who engages individuals, groups, corporations, and agencies to deliver results together in high-pressure time-sensitive situations.

I have over 22 years in aviation as an Air Traffic Controller and an Airline Transport Pilot with over 3000 incident-free flight hours, primarily as an Air Ambulance Captain. I have a degree in Aviation Flight Management and post-graduate training in Flight Safety, Advanced First Aid, Volunteer Firefighting, Outdoor Survival, and Humanitarian Response.

My CMAT vision includes:

Organize and Structure – Continue the previous Board’s efforts to better organize CMAT and guide our volunteers. Streamlining the Board and creating Committees to address Recruitment, Training, and Finance are important steps to achieving sustainability.

Secure Financial Stability – Minimal budgets constrained CMAT in the past, causing teams difficulty during disaster responses. I believe increasing donations and securing corporate sponsors are critical to ensure adequate support during disasters. Sponsorship and advertising opportunities exist, and with advance planning and preparation, CMAT can partner with large corporations in mutually-beneficial relationships.

Build Reputation – While maintaining the highest reputational standards and organizational integrity are priorities, we need to build our organization’s professional reputation. I believe reviewing our talents and response history with the Federal Government may help us attain some form of accreditation/affiliation as well as sponsorship or support from them and the military.

My aviation experience and track record aligns well with the Board’s required skills. My air traffic control experience at one of Canada’s largest international airports as well as in the Middle East prepared me for this role’s challenges and demands. I am accustomed to repeatedly assessing, prioritizing, and managing safety-critical and time-sensitive situations. I remain focused and strategic in decision-making while leading high-pressure, unstructured situations. I rapidly analyze information, assess the critical path, align resources, and prioritize responses to optimize outcomes. I also have a thorough understanding of CMAT through my multiple deployments since 2005.

I strongly believe that those volunteering for the Board need to have adequate time available to devote to their role, which I am very fortunate to have within my profession.”

Dave Johnson
Vancouver, British Columbia

CLICK HERE to download and print the ballot and follow the ballot instructions for mailing. 

All ballots must be postmarked by midnight Oct 15th, 2012.

Results will be counted and posted on the CMAT website on November 1, 2012.