Who We Are

Board Of Directors

The RCA Board of Directors’ role is to govern RCA by providing leadership and direction in the pursuit of its vision and mission. The Board is elected by the membership of RCA and is accountable to the membership for competent stewardship that will ensure the long-term viability of RCA. The Board of Directors’ first duty is to the legal entity CARA. In meeting this duty the Board must ensure that all legal requirements under the relevant Acts are met and that CARA is protected from harmful situations and circumstances in the interests of current and future stakeholders. For more information on the Board’s role, please see the RCA Governance Policy.

Meeting Minutes

• Carol Purcer

  President

  Carol Purcer is a volunteer who is passionate about growing the sport of rowing.  Her involvement spans twenty five years of volunteering as an RCA Umpire and as a member of a number of provincial and national committees. She has served as a leader on the RCA Board as Provincial Director as well as Vice President – Events for ROWONTARIO and as President of Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA). She was Chair of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta for seven years and has also chaired the CSSRA Championship Regatta. 

  Carol has an educational background in sport, a Masters of Education in Organizational Studies and is a retired secondary school principal.  She has had opportunities over many years that have  allowed her to develop skills in communication, organization, planning and preparation, social skills, conflict resolution, as well as problem solving to continuously encourage change for improvement, all skills that will serve her well in the role of President of Rowing Canada Aviron.

  Carol’s vision as President is to use these skills to deeply understand the varied needs across the country and develop a plan to support our members to grow clubs and high school programs and in turn, grow our sport.  Her view is that one size doesn’t fit all and finding differentiated pathways to success will help participants at many different levels.

  

  Carol Purcer

  Carol Purcer

  President

  president@rowingcanada.org

• Derek Ventnor

  Provincial Director & Treasurer

  Derek currently acts as Chief Operating Officer for Skate Ontario. He sat as a volunteer Board member with Row Ontario for 10 years prior to becoming Executive Director 2006 – 2017. He is an RCA and World Rowing Umpire and a long-time serving member of both the RCA Umpires Committee, where he served as Committee Chair from 2001-2006, and as a member of the RCA Safety and Events Committee from 2007 – 2017. Derek has also served in multiple roles at his home rowing club Tillsonburg Rowing Club in Ontario including President, Treasurer, Captain, and Coach over a span of almost 20 years.

  

  Derek Ventnor

  Derek Ventnor

  Provincial Director & Treasurer

• Tracey Black

  Director at Large

  Tracey has been involved in rowing since 1982 as an athlete and coach in high school, university, club, provincial, national and masters programs. She was the head coach at Havergal College in Toronto from 1994 to 2001 and has been coaching and competing as a Masters athlete since 2004, rowing out of Toronto Sculling Club, a club she helped establish. From 2020-2024, she was the CEO at Payments Canada, a member-funded, not for profit corporation.

  

  Tracey Black

  Tracey Black

  Director at Large

• Jane Stamp

  Director at Large

  Jane Stamp is an RCA Alumni, competing on the Senior National Team from 1978-1988 and an 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist. After her formal retirement from rowing, she pursued a career in professional accounting earning her Chartered Accountants designation. She now works as a semi-retired independent contractor.

  

  Jane Stamp

  Jane Stamp

  Director at Large

• Lindsay Bergen

  Athlete Director

  Lindsay Bergen was elected Athlete Director by the national team athletes in November 2021.

  After serving as an alternate in Beijing in 2008 and winning gold at the 2010 World Championships, Lindsay made her Olympic debut in London in 2012, where she won the B final with her lightweight sculling partner Patricia Obee to finish seventh overall. Lindsay and Patricia went on to win silver at the World Championships in 2014 and Olympic silver in a memorable race in Rio in 2016.

  Lindsay graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Kinesiology and has since completed a Certificate in Business from Queens University. After competing for Canada for 20 years, Lindsay joined the Canadian Pacific Sports Institute team in 2016, where she worked in athlete and coach services. Following the birth of her second daughter in 2021, Lindsay returned to the Institute at the end of 2022 to take up a new position as Administrative Manager, Human Resources. She has always had the ambition to continue her daily life in sport and feels particularly fortunate to have the opportunity to work alongside all the dedicated people who helped her succeed as an athlete.

  

  Lindsay Bergen

  Lindsay Bergen

  Athlete Director

• Charles Minett

  Director

  Charles has spent over a decade building businesses through channel sales, business development, and partnerships. These businesses continue to shape how people engage with sports media (ESPN and Rogers), artificial intelligence (Integrate.ai), commerce (Shopify), and each other (Facebook). Presently, he leads global strategy and design for Shopify’s Partner Program, one of the largest partner ecosystems in the world.  

  Charles is deeply connected to the rowing community across North America. He was captain at the University of Washington and member of the World University Games team for Canada. Since retiring from competition, he has criss-crossed North America driving boat trailers, coached pre-elite camps, and repaired boats.

  All of this pales in comparison to his greatest accomplishment, his family. Charles lives in Burlington with his wife Nicole, their four children, and dog, Lola.

  

  Charles Minett

  Charles Minett

  Director

• Michael Bryden

  Director

  Michael Bryden is a Managing Director with proven abilities and a versatile skill set able to deliver competent advice. He is talented in forming partnerships with stakeholders, coalescing viewpoints, and developing tactical plans to meet strategic goals. Experienced in delivering top-ranked value-creating idea generation and solutions in sophisticated results-focused competitive settings. Michael has volunteer experience with multiple organizations and former National Team rower. 

  

  Michael Bryden

  Michael Bryden

  Director

We want to hear from you! 

• Jeff Powell

  Chief Executive Officer

  Reporting to the RCA Board, Jeff has the responsibility of developing and delivering RCA’s strategies, objectives and operational plans, revenue generation and financial management, partner relations, people and culture, safe sport, and all programs of RCA. He accomplishes this through the senior leadership team and their staff who are responsible for both high performance and sport and pathway development for rowing. Jeff also supports the Board in fulfilling their governance role and works with various Board standing committees and operating committees, as well as key volunteers to achieve RCA’s goals.

  jpowell@rowingcanada.org

• Jennifer Fitzpatrick

  Director of Partnerships and Sport Development

  Jennifer is responsible for developing and executing the strategic planning and implementation of domestic operations. This includes providing direction for the implementation of Coach, Umpire, Member Services and Engagement initiatives. Jennifer also oversees the Marketing and Communications strategy for the promotion of rowing in Canada. Jennifer works with government, corporate and community partners, member clubs and associations to increase inclusiveness, develop awareness of and increase participation in rowing across Canada.  

  jfitzpatrick@rowingcanada.org

• Adam Parfitt

  High Performance Director

  Adam is responsible for the effective alignment, development and delivery of the coach and athlete high performance pathway. He works within RCA High Performance Program overseeing the National Team strategy, as well as NextGen staff, and their relationships with HUB partners and Provincial Rowing Associations to ensure collaboration and engagement around a common strategy of plans and activities.

  parfitt@rowingcanada.org

• Carla Soares

  Finance Manager

  Carla is responsible for developing financial, budget, and investment controls and reporting; human resource administration procedures and standards; managing contracts/leases of the organization, and ensuring adherence to all applicable regulatory requirements.

  csoares@rowingcanada.org

• Alethia Clarke

  Member Services Coordinator

  Alethia is our primary point of contact for RCA Member Organizations and is responsible for the delivery of RCA Member Services.  Working closely with RCA staff, service providers and members of the rowing community, Alethia oversees and provides support for RCA’s event management and participant registration databases and procedures, the insurance program as well as projects that help grow awareness and increase participation in rowing in Canada.

  aclarke@rowingcanada.org

• Colleen Coderre

  Communications Lead

  Colleen is responsible for planning and execution of the Marketing and Communications strategy for the promotion of rowing in Canada and the promotion of our National Teams. Colleen is responsible for leveraging communication activities to enhance the growing presence of the sport in the media and the rowing community.  

  coderre@rowingcanada.org

• Susanne Wereley

  Communications Manager

  Susanne is responsible for elevating the profile of our rowing community and our National Teams, through our digital platforms, newsletter, and social and mainstream media. She helps develop and oversee content on the RCA digital platforms such as the website, newsletter, and social media, supports the execution of press releases, and coordinates the development of promotional material and reports.

  s.wereley@rowingcanada.org

• Taylyr Dickinson

  Para Rowing Lead

  As the Para Rowing Lead, Taylyr will collaborate with the Para Rowing Advisory Committee and RCA Leadership to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for high performance Para Rowing.

  tdickinson@rowingcanada.org

• Laurence Côté

  National Team Coordinator

  Laurence provides coordination, logistics and administration support, and relationship management for the RCA National Team program. She works closely with the High Performance team to establish and execute daily operations and implementation of targeted National Team programming.

  lcote@rowingcanada.org

• Chuck McDiarmid

  NextGen Program Lead

  Chuck is responsible for the development and implementation of RCA’s NextGen strategy. Chuck works collaboratively with RCA’s Director of Coach and Athlete Pathways, corporate and government partners, member clubs and associations, and other RCA staff, to identify and support athletes with potential to represent Canada internationally.  

  cmcdiarmid@rowingcanada.org

• Colleen Miller

  Manager of Coach Education and Development

  Colleen is responsible for the development and delivery of the NCCP coach education and certification programs and the implementation of RCA’s mentoring and professional development programs. Colleen works collaboratively with RCA’s Coach Education Development Committee (CEDC), Director of Partnerships and Sport Development, Director Coach and Athlete Pathways, High Performance Director, and the Provincial Rowing Associations (PRA’s).

  colleenmiller@rowingcanada.org

• Jon Rose

  National Team Equipment and Operations Coordinator

  jrose@rowingcanada.org

• Sukhraj Saraow

  Finance and Administration Coordinator

  Working closely with RCA staff, Sukhraj supports all bookkeeping functions of the organization including all areas of accounts payable and accounts receivable. Sukhraj also oversees all areas of RCA’s office administration including telephone inquiries, office supply procurement, incoming and outgoing deliveries, and RCA staff and volunteer board travel arrangements.

  ssaraow@rowingcanada.org

• Dane Lawson

  National Training Centre Coach

• Jordan Clarke

  Lead Sport Scientist and Physiologist

• Tom Morris

  National Team - Women's Coach

  Tom is the National Women’s Lead Coach at Rowing Canada Aviron. He has been coaching rowing at the international level for over 16 years in Australia, Canada, & Germany. As a rowing coach he has helped crews to the podium at World Cups, European & World Championships, PanAm Games, Youth Olympic & Olympic Games. Of these, most notably guiding both the Canadian Lightweight Women’s Double Scull to a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games and recently the Canadian Women’s Eight to a silver medal at the 2024 Olympic Games.

• Lauren Fisher

  National Training - Men's Coach