Outgoing Community Foundation board chair Natasha Collins-Decoste. Photo courtesy Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta

By Jeff Henson

CFNWAB

Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta set to elect new board

Apr 28, 2022 | 11:36 AM

A new executive – including a board chair – will be elected when the Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta holds its annual general meeting on May 11th.

The new board chair will replace Natasha Collins-Decoste, whose three-year term in the post is coming to an end.

Collins-Decoste says her goal when she took over as board chair was to leave the Community Foundation in a better position than it was when she started.

She feels she has met that goal.

“It was not in any way that I expected, but it feels like a different foundation from when I joined the board. And I think that to grow you have to change, and I think we did that.”

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Collins-Decoste says among the highlights as Community Foundation board chair was helping guide the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic.

She adds the pandemic forced them to listen to what the community needed, both from a recipient and donor point of view.

“The foundation has traditionally really been about the long term – about what is the community going to need in 10, 15, 20 years. But when we are dealing with something like a pandemic, we need to figure out what the community needs in the next 48 hours.”

“So we really had to pivot and be faster and more responsive. It was a huge challenge but we managed to do it.”

She adds the other major highlight was the hiring of Laura LaValley as the organization’s new CEO, replacing the retiring Tracey Vavrek.

Collins-Decoste says her successor will need to be both open and ready to listen.

“The most important thing that I learned was that we are always learning. That learning comes in unexpected ways and from unexpected people.”

“In three years, I feel like I learned about as much as I could possibly get into my brain. So just be open, listen to everybody, and be prepared for unexpected events.”

The Annual General Meeting begins at 4 pm on May 11th in the Al Robertson room at Centre 2000.

Those looking to attend in person need to RSVP to rhonda@buildingtomorrowtoday.com.

The meeting can also be viewed via Zoom.

To register for that go to https://www.buildingtomorrowtoday.com/AGM2022/