HERITAGE OTTAWA
Following Heritage Ottawa’s annual general meeting in May, the new Board of Directors met to elect an executive committee. We are pleased to introduce our new president!
Katherine Spencer-Ross has served on the board since 2012, and became chair of the Lecture Series Committee shortly before the pandemic. She built a strong team that developed an impressive program of interesting lectures covering a wide range of topics, in both English and French, and took them online and onto YouTube in early 2021. More recently, Katherine joined the Advocacy Committee.
Katherine Spencer-Ross began her working life as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, and later spent more than 35 years in the Federal Public Service, retiring in 2020. Her first position in Ottawa was as an architectural historian with Parks Canada before moving to more policy-related work at the Department of Canadian Heritage, first in the Heritage Branch and then the Portfolio Affairs Office. Katherine’s focus shifted to more strategic work, first as the manager of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, then as Director of Executive Group Renewal, Governance, Planning and Policy at Treasury Board Secretariat. Her final move took her to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), first as the Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach and finally as Director of Liaison between VAC and the Department of National Defence/Canadian Armed Forces.
Katherine has lived in the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa since 1991 where she has taken a keen interest in local heritage. She is looking forward to working with the board to move the organization forward during this pandemic recovery period.
When not working to preserve Ottawa’s heritage, Katherine can be found enjoying the outdoors walking, hiking and cross-country skiing, and slowly resuming the travels she loves.
Board members — incoming and outgoing
New to the board are Paul Bennett and Kate MacFarlane.
Paul Bennett is retired from a career with Foreign Affairs Canada, Canadian International Development Agency, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and Industry Canada. Paul has extensive volunteer work experience including as a board member in Victoria (BC) Heritage and Architectural Landmark Society, Heritage Vancouver, and Action Sandy Hill.
Kate MacFarlane recently retired after a 31-year career with Parks Canada, working primarily with built heritage in support of the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
We look forward to having their knowledge and skills at the board table.
Peter Coffman, David Flemming and Heather McArthur have stepped down from the Board after several years of service, however all remain active in committee work. David remains as vice-chair of the Advocacy Committee, Peter as a member of the Lecture Series Committee, and Heather as an advisor on corporate governance.
We are grateful for their wise and careful deliberations on matters before the board, but they are not far away should we need to call on them!
See the complete list of Heritage Ottawa's Board of Directors HERE.