Canada Soccer holds virtual 2021 Annual Meeting of the Members

Canada Soccer hosted its second Annual Meeting of the Members in six months on 1 May after its 2020 AMM was postponed and then rescheduled as a virtual meeting in November. The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Members, originally scheduled for Saint John, New Brunswick, saw the election of Canada Soccer Vice President Charmaine Crooks confirmed. Paul-Claude Bérubé and Charlie Cuzzetto were elected as Directors for Quebec and British Columbia/Yukon, respectively.

In addition, three additional female Independent Directors, Brittany Timko Baxter, Charisse Bacchus, and Stephanie Geosits were ratified by the Membership to bring the total to five sitting female Directors. Canada Soccer also announced that Winnipeg, MB and Saint John, NB will host the 2022 and 2023 editions of the AMM and the organization released its 2020 Annual Report.

“We are grateful for the support and collaboration of the representatives of our Member Associations, Professional League-in-Membership, Professional Club Members, and representatives for our National Teams, referees, and coaches as we navigate this challenging public health emergency,” said Dr. Nick Bontis, Canada Soccer President. “The challenges we are all facing require unique solutions and we are grateful to be working as a collective to ensure that the sport recovers and flourishes as we turn the corner of this battle against COVID-19.”

Originally appointed as Canada Soccer’s first female and person of colour to serve as Canada Soccer Vice President by the Board of Directors in January, Crooks was officially elected to serve the remainder of the post vacated when Dr. Nick Bontis become Canada Soccer President at the 2020 AMM in November. Elections for the upcoming four-year Vice President post commencing in 2022 will take place at next year’s Annual Meeting.

Crooks has been a member of the Canada Soccer Board of Directors since 2013 and currently serves as a member of FIFA’s Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions. In 2012, Crooks was named as a Member of the Order of Canada. Crooks is a five-time Olympian and Olympic Silver Medallist. She was Canada’s flag bearer at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. She also serves as a FIFA Match Commissioner.

Paul-Claude Bérubé has served on the Canada Soccer Board of Directors since 2015. After graduating from the University of Laval in 1983, he joined the Quebec Bar in 1984 specializing in administrative, governance and commercial law and served 10 years on Bar’s Arbitration Committee. A leader in accessibility affairs, he has additionally served as Chair of Accessibility Standards Canada since 2019.

Charlie Cuzzetto has served on Canada Soccer’s Board since 2009. He also currently serves as a member of FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee as well as Concacaf’s Disciplinary Appeals Committee and is a life member of BC Soccer. A long-time City of Vancouver recreation manager, Cuzzetto graduated from UBC with Bachelor of Arts in Recreation Management in 1973.

A former Women’s National Team standout and member of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, Brittany Timko Baxter was a member of the Bronze medal-winning 2012 Olympic squad and amassed 132 career appearance for Canada appearing in three FIFA Women’s World Cups and two Olympic Games. She is the first former Women’s National Team to be appointed to the Canada Soccer Board.

Charisse Bacchus is a former standout track & field athlete at the University of Kanas who served as a member of Trinidad & Tobago’s track team in international competition. She is a MSc. Law graduate of the CIES/FIFA International Centre for Sport Studies in the Management of Humanities of Sport.

Stephanie Geosits is an experienced sports executive that has worked in a variety of Canadian soccer roles including most-recently as Executive Director of Burlington Youth Soccer. She is a former Director, Marketing & Communications at Ontario Soccer. Geosits graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with a Masters in Public Policy in 1998.