Tamara Vrooman appointed chair of Rick Hansen Foundation
March 1, 2018
The Rick Hansen Foundation today announced the appointment of Vancity president and chief executive officer Tamara Vrooman as its new chair of its board of directors.
Tamara has been a board director with the Rick Hansen Foundation since 2016 and is also co-chair of the Presidents Group. She is known to lend her voice and leadership experience to issues related to women, families and children, with a focus on issues related to equality, inclusion and empowerment. She has been recognized for her leadership with multiple awards and honours and is a frequent speaker at local, national and international conferences and symposia.
"Over the past two years, Tamara has shown tremendous leadership as a member of our Board, lending her extensive experience and insights to help us deliver on our goals of building a more accessible and inclusive Canada," said Rick Hansen, CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation. "We are thrilled to welcome Tamara into this position of leadership, and are confident that her passion and commitment to everything she does will serve the Foundation extremely well."
"I'm honoured to accept this new role and would like to thank Lyall Knott and George Gaffney for their guidance as Co-Chairs of the Foundation over the past five years," Tamara says. "The business case for making Canada more accessible for people living with disabilities has never been stronger. We've made progress raising awareness and changing attitudes, but there's still a long way to go."
Tamara assumes the role of Chair effective immediately, and succeeds current co-chairs Lyall Knott and George Gaffney.
The announcement comes following the Rick Hansen Foundation’s annual Board strategic planning session. The Foundation continues to focus on developing and delivering initiatives that increase accessibility in the built environment, specifically on the establishment of the RHF Accessibility Certification program which rates the level of accessibility of public places and spaces.