Our Tremendous Board of Directors

August 01, 2012

Have you met our board of directors? If you’ve been to a Festival event, chances are you’ve brushed shoulders with one of our many board members—PuSh’s most dedicated volunteers and some of our strongest advocates and champions in the community.

In 2005, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival was incorporated as a society and in 2006 elected its first board of directors. This past AGM, we bid farewell to five members that served on this founding board: Jane Heyman, Ken Manning, Alice Niwinski, Donna P. Wong-Juliani, and Max Wyman. We also said farewell to members Alyson Rimmer and Janet Rogers. PuSh would like to thank them for their tremendous contributions over the years!

Peter Dickinson, who has been on the PuSh board for 3 years now, will take on the role of Board President.

“I’ll be honest, when I joined the PuSh Board in 2009, I didn’t entirely know what I was in for. What I did know was that I was a fervent believer in the mission and artistic vision of the Festival and its Executive Director, Norman Armour. Luckily for me, my fellow Board members, from an array of professional and personal backgrounds, all believed in PuSh as passionately as I did. That alone has made the past three years among the most richly rewarding volunteer experiences of my life—and perhaps explains why it didn’t take much convincing for me to agree to succeed Max Wyman as President of the PuSh Board.

I have some pretty big shoes to fill, I know. But I also know I have the support and expertise and energy of an amazingly talented group of individuals who are as committed as I am to ensuring the Festival continues on its amazing journey of pushing the aesthetic boundaries and broadening the audiences for live performance in Vancouver.  To our departing Board members—especially our amazing circle of founders—I offer my sincere thanks for your dedication and selfless service. To our returning Board members, I look forward to building on our recent initiatives. And to our new Board members, I welcome you to the PuSh family, and am excited about the new adventures—cultural and otherwise—we are about to chart.” – Board President, Peter Dickinson

We are pleased to welcome on nine new board members into our society this year (indicated with an asterisk in the list below).

Peter Dickinson President
Michael Stevenson* Vice-President Internal Communications
Rodger So* Treasurer
Jessie Johnston* Secretary
Jennifer Clement*
Chris Dobrzanski
Marie-Claire Dy
Kent Gallie
Margo Harper
Michael Heeney*
Chris Kantowicz
Ronald Lauenstein
Leslie Nolin
Gayle Pastrick*
Laine Slater
Vera Tatko*
Betty Verkuil*
Christianne Wilhelmson*
*new board members

“Thrilled and honoured barely describe my feelings about the new slate of board members. Any non-profit organization would be grateful to have the incoming nine board members as their entire board, let alone having them join nine other members. This is one of the many steps we have been taking, in order that the PuSh Festival moves into the next phase of its life as resourced and resilient as ever.” – Executive Director, Norman Armour

The staff at PuSh sends a huge thank you to all of the past and present members of our board. We couldn’t do it without you!