Members of the Standardbred Canada Search Committee (Jim Lehman, Rick Karper, Chuck Keeling, Mo Stewart, Dave Stuart, and Jackson Wittup) met last week with

the search consultants, Ron Charles and Heather Ring, to review progress on the search for the next President and Chief Executive Officer of Standardbred Canada. This purpose of the meeting was to review feedback from stakeholders and to agree upon the role profile for the President and CEO.

Committee members began by reviewing unattributed feedback from stakeholders, which had been summarized and grouped under a number of key headings/themes. This feedback came from stakeholders inside and outside of Standardbred Canada, through face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and e-mail correspondence. To date, the consultants have communicated with close to 40 stakeholders who have offered their thoughts on the challenges, opportunities and priorities for the new leader, as well as the type of experience and leadership style that will be important.

Members of the Committee then reviewed and discussed a draft role profile; the key “must-haves”, in terms of experience and skills, that the new leader must bring to the role; draft advertising copy; and a target list of organizations – the search territory the consultants will focus on in their outreach. The Committee also established dates for the next several meetings.

As the purpose of the meeting was to review feedback and agree upon the role profile, no candidates were discussed at the meeting. However, the consultants reported that they have been given a large number of suggestions from stakeholders and that several people have expressed interest in the opportunity.

At the start and conclusion of each Committee meeting, there is a discussion about confidentiality. Committee members have agreed not to discuss the search – and in particular, names of candidates – outside of the meetings, in order to protect candidate confidentiality and preserve the integrity of the search process. Committee members have agreed to direct inquiries about the search to this Web page or to the search consultants.

The Committee will have an update meeting/phone call with Caldwell's Ron Charles and Heather Ring in December.