I am very honoured to be receiving the Service to Society Award this evening.

 

As a long-time volunteer with the CES-CESEF Student Evaluation Case Competition, I have worn many hats over the years. I became involved in the Case Competition in 2010 when I was finishing a graduate certificate in program evaluation at the University of Ottawa.

Brad Cousins was my team’s coach and my team successfully competed in both rounds and “brought home the hardware” as Brad liked to say, at the Victoria, BC conference. I was so enamoured by the competition that I approached Bea Courtney and asked to volunteer. Since 2010, I’ve been a judge many times, co-ordinator of the judges, member of the case development committee, co-chair (learning the ropes from my mentor Bea) and now chair.

 

I would like to thank the many people who helped me get here this evening;

 

·         Bea Courtney for everything she taught me about the case comp

·         Michael Obrecht for inventing the case comp and for nominating me, along with Bear for this award

·         My sincere thanks to François Dumaine and Martine Perrault for all their support along the way and for their support of my nomination

·         And for the tireless devotion of the Case Comp working group, without whom there would be no case comp

 

o   Brian McGowan

o   Michael Heimlick

o   Christine Sheppard

o   Michelle Naimi

o   Tin Vo

o   Samantha Inwood

o   Mikki Campbell

o   Marla Steinberg

 

 

·         Thank you so much for this honour.

 

A few more words ...

 

By Benoît Gauthier to all:

Well deserved, Kathryn. Your leadership style is very effective in keeping the case competition on track. Cheers!

 

By Isabelle Bourgeois to all

Great song, Michael!

 

By Larry Bremner to all:

Kathryn, so well deserved. Congratulations - with a big, beautiful smile day after day - your work is important - so important

 

By Michelle Naimi to all:

I love the song !! Congratulations Kathryn!