Long-time CQHA director steps down
Marnie Somers has stepped down as a director of the Canadian Quarter Horse Association.
She was instrumental in reactivating the CQHA in 2001 as a charter member and served as president for more than a decade.
Somers then worked in a variety of other capacities, including secretary, website master, e-news editor, social media guru and membership co-ordinator.
4-H Canada presents volunteer award
Karen Chambers has received 4-H Canada’s National Volunteer Leader of the Year award.
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A club leader in Chilliwack, B.C., Chambers joined 4-H as a shy nine-year-old and immediately became a leader when she aged out of the program. She has been leading her club for more than 27 years.
This award is driven by nominations from 4-H members.
Chambers received an award package that included a cash prize and airfare to Saskatoon for the Leadership Summit and Leadership Awards at the end of January, where she was honoured for her contributions to 4-H and toward helping develop future leaders in her community.
Winners of the provincial volunteer leader of the year awards include:
- Anna Meakin, Double Diamond 4-H Multi Club, Alberta
- Erin Cooper, Eagle Hills Multiple 4-H Club, Saskatchewan
- Lenore Vandenbyllaart, Anola Northern Lights, Manitoba
- Kim DeKlein, Mossley Dorchester 4-H Club, Ontario
- Cindy Bowen, Hatley 4-H Club, Quebec
- Maryse Michaud, Les Camarades Forestier, New Brunswick
- Michele Flemming, Riverside 4-H Club, Nova Scotia
- Jacquie Corcoran, Zodiac 4-H Club, Newfoundland and Labrador
For more information, visit 4-h-canada.ca/nvlya.
Youth leadership scholarships awarded
Five scholarships were presented at the recent Prairieland Park Youth Leadership Conference held in Saskatoon:
- Brett Rumpell, a member of the Longlaketon Multiple 4-H Club from Craven, Sask., received a $4,500 scholarship. She is in her first year at the University of Saskatchewan.
- Simon Mann from the Handel Multiple 4-H Club received a $3,000 scholarship.
- Morgan Davey of the Vanscoy Multiple 4-H Club received a $2,500 scholarship.
- Ruby Kinash of the Wishart Multiple 4-H Club and Dylan Watt of the Beechy Multiple 4-H Club received $1,000 scholarships.
Co-operative centre has new director
Marc-André Pigeon is the new director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for the Study of Co-operatives.
He joined the university’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy last year as an assistant professor and a strategic research fellow with the centre.
Pigeon has a master’s degree from the University of Ottawa and a PhD from Carleton University. His academic background is in economics and communications studies. He has worked in a number of economics and policy-related positions, most recently servings as assistant vice-president of public policy at the Canadian Credit Union Association.
Pigeon has also served as interim-vice president of government relations at the CCUA, special adviser and senior project leader at the federal finance department and lead analyst on several House of Commons committees, including finance, public accounts, agriculture, and banking, trade and commerce.
As well, he worked as an economic researcher at Bard College’s Levy Economics Institute and started his career as a financial journalist at Bloomberg Business News.
