Pandemic Response – COVID-19

Updates, Useful Information & Downloads

Thank you for visiting the BC CEO Network website!

Our network of agency leaders has a clear set of purposes:

1. To facilitate a collective voice
2. To promote effective business practices
3. To promote leadership development and mutual support

As an organization that is led by CEOs from across the province, we strive to meet our mandate as set out above. While we all make the adjustments required to manage our organizations within the context of COVID-19, the BC CEO Network has continued to support its members in a variety of ways.  We have held regional calls with our members, fielded and responded to specific inquiries from members, co-hosted multiple Community of Practice calls with CLBC and been a partner with CLBC on Service Provider calls.  We continue to provide current information to our members and work closely with government representatives and CLBC to ensure that our needs as a sector are heard, understood and responded to.

As part of our response to ensuring we remain engaged with our members we hosted a virtual Professional Development Day on October 7, 2020 and our 10^th Annual General Meeting on October 8, 2020.  While the world of virtual meetings has become commonplace in our daily work, it was a new venture for the BC CEO Network itself.  We met our maximum registration of 200 for the Professional Development Day and enjoyed a day with Dr. Steve Patty as we explored leadership.  The AGM was devoted specifically to the required annual business including the election of the Board.  The 2020/2021 Board of Directors is:  Brandon Arnett, Brian Tebo, Caroline Bonesky, Dan Collins, Dawn Hein, Ernie Baatz, Jody Siebert, Kam Judge, Karyn Santiago and Michael McFetridge with the Executive positions filled as follows: Karyn Santiago – President, Brandon Arnett – Vice-President and Dawn Hein – Secretary Treasurer.  .Both meetings proved highly successful and we will now being to plan for virtual sessions in January 2021.

We continued our work with the Social Service Roundtable and the Re-Imagining Community Inclusion table.  We restarted our regular Executive Committee meetings with CLBC and reconfirmed our representatives to those meeting as Karyn Santiago, Brandon Arnett, Caroline Bonesky, Ernie Baatz and Brenda Gillette.  We have also continued to follow up on discussions with CLBC about the FGT.  Much of the ongoing work ceased with the dropping of the writ and we are now waiting for the election and the pursuant changes before being able to revive much of this work.  We are committed to ensuring a positive working relationship with CLBC and have planned a half-day session with facilitator, Just Outcomes, to come together and develop a mutual understanding for our future work together.

Sadly, COVID-19 remains a very real part of the world reality and our work.  Our members have had to spend considerable time and energy on the development of plans to ensure the safety and well-being of those they support.  This is becoming increasingly challenging as we shift into fall and can no longer use outdoor spaces to the same degree.  There are also continued challenges with recruitment and retention that are a shared concern across the province. The BC CEO Network has co-hosted monthly Community of Practice calls over the past several months and will continue to do so through the duration of the pandemic.  These calls have proven useful to many service providers as they share concerns, ideas and solutions associated with service provision during COVID-19.

Our upcoming meeting for January 2021 has been canceled and we will be reviewing options for the spring and fall meetings.  We will provide updates as soon as they are available.

Member input is vital to ensuring a strong and healthy organization.  I encourage your comments, inquiries and recommendations.  Please contact me at brenda@bcceonetwork.ca.