Wow. Would you look at that. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to imagine such an incredibly wide range of personalities and backgrounds for a single job (the CEO of EC), but there it is. The EC Board found someone who has, at least on paper, almost nothing in common with her two predecessors. Far be it for me to say she’s too young or under-qualified for the job of running what Akaash recently described as the world’s largest volunteer-driven equestrian federation. I’ve been an underqualified whipper-snapper myself, most notably at the two vocations that currently pay my bills: journalism and freestyle design. I’ve always believed that it’s better to give a job to a person who is less experienced but shows the right stuff than to go with an old hand who may never rise above what was already on his or her résumé on the day of being hired.
The EC Board says it hired Eva Havaris because she is a ‘strong fit’ with EC’s Strategic Plan, One Vision. That tells us little to nothing, since One Vision has not yet managed to lift off from the piece of paper it’s printed on – at least as far as members like me are aware, since we have not heard ‘boo’ about One Vision for quite some time.
I actually had a little head start on most of you, having been leaked the news of Eva’s appointment as EC Head Honcho a couple of weeks ago. (See, those of you who trust me not? I do respect confidentiality.) Curious to learn a bit more before the official announcement came out, I did a bit of googling, which revealed that Eva was at the helm of Taekwondo Canada for four years. To continue with the mariner references, she was skipper of a rather small crew. The Taekwondo Canada website lists four employees, including the CEO. On its ‘news and events’ page, there is a big red banner at the top that says ‘Monthly CEO Updates Coming Soon!’ I guess the first monthly update will be that the CEO has left for quite literally greener pastures (Taekwondo being an indoor sport and all).
A little more googling turned up evidence that Eva has already had a taste of what she is soon to find waiting for her at EC: a herd of unhappy members who don’t appreciate a perpetual lack of transparency from their federation’s Board of Directors. I came across an open letter to Taekwondo’s CEO and Board from a year ago, posted without a byline by someone from a group called Taekwondo Encore. The letter expresses a number of grievances that fall somewhat short of scandalous, but nevertheless indicate lack of total satisfaction on a number of issues. One of the complaints is that TC failed to post Board AGM minutes since 2012; It’s a situation that is easily confirmed as unrectified, since the website indeed has no posted minutes after September 2012.
A little more digging revealed that membership numbers in TC are currently less than 5,000. EC had around 20,000 sport license holders last year, and of course that doesn’t include the further tens of thousands more members who – whether they like it or not – are members of EC through their provincial affiliates. Eva, you have a lot of hands to shake when you get here!
I wouldn’t be doing a thorough 21st Century sleuthing job if I didn’t do a little Facebook stalking too. Eva has gratifyingly low privacy settings on her page. I don’t know her age, but I do know that she has listed her school year at the University of Western Ontario as 2006. I also know she likes Sarah Harmer and rainbows. The photo EC posted with the announcement reveals someone who looks pretty cool. Maybe a bit too cool. The image looks less like the mug shot for a CEO of a large sport organization than for Pink Martini’s new singer.
One potentially negative fact about Eva is that she doesn’t fit the first qualification laid out by Akaash in his ten tips for the next CEO in my post of a couple of weeks ago: to be a horseman. I don’t think that is necessarily an insurmountable shortcoming, though Eva would be well advised to at least hang out at some barns and horse shows to become acquainted with the smell of horses – maybe learn which end the oats go in, stuff like that. Like I said before, I do believe great things can come from people who are short on miles but long on talent. After all, it would be hard to imagine any of the world’s successful people NOT having pushed to reach for the highest rung on the monkey bars. That’s how they got where they are.
I wish Eva every success as the CEO of EC, and I look forward to the opportunity to get to know her through interviews I hope to conduct for Horse Sport Magazine. I would like to conclude today’s post with a few tips that I hope will help Eva as she takes on her new role:
1. Remember that EC has unlimited potential for improvement. In other words, you’ll have to go pretty far out of your way to make things worse than they already are.
2. Caveat to point 1: as dysfunctional an organization as EC is, there are some very capable, clever and dedicated individuals working at EC, particularly in the discipline departments. Their achievements have come about in spite of the federation, rather than because of it. Imagine how much they could get done if they were actually supported by EC. These people have a great deal of experience. I recommend you tap into that well of knowledge as fast as you can.
3. You will no doubt be warned about me. Maybe you will even be told to refuse to speak to me, a policy recently adopted by one of the people who hired you, the President of EC. But I can assure you that I care deeply about equestrian sport in Canada, and I have never given a raw deal to anyone who was open and candid with me. You can ask both your predecessors for proof of that claim. Both of them spoke to me with trust not only throughout their abbreviated tenures as CEO, but afterward.
4. Further to point 3: if you are interested in any advance reading on the state of EC and its relationship to the Canadian equestrian community, I would be delighted to forward you copies of the articles I have written about this very topic over the past four years. In a way, I’ve already started our relationship, having written an article in the May 2014 issue of Horse Sport titled “Dear (insert name here): Words of advice for Equine Canada’s next CEO”. Since it’s your name that fills in the blank, I think this would make excellent bedtime reading for you on, say, June 8th.
5. Canada’s horse industry is massive and hydra-headed, but it’s also filled with incredible people whose passion for horses and equestrian sport who are certain to inspire you. Don’t be shy to ask questions. Most of us are beyond eager to see someone in charge who manages to dodge the EC Board’s bullets long enough to affect positive change. Welcome. And good luck.
