AGM recap: Introducing ORCBC’s new Board Chair
New ORCBC Chair, Eric Vanderkruk and partner Liz on a trail overlooking the Columbia River wetlands, near Radium Hot Springs, BC
The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC's (ORCBC) 2024 Annual General Meeting was held via Zoom on June 5, 2024.
Here are a few notes from the new ORCBC Board Chair, Eric Vanderkruk.
Strange to say this midway through the calendar year - welcome all of you to a brand-new ORC board year! It’s been just over a week since Wayne Mercer passed the torch over to me so the full realization of what I’m in for as the newest ORC board chair hasn’t yet begun to sink in. As such, I have nothing of significance to report, but I’d like to recognize and thank Wayne for his steady hand on the helm as our board chair these past 2 years. As I shared after our AGM on June 5th, he leaves some very big shoes to fill!
Our Treasurer, Ken Matthews, and Secretary, Amanda L’Heureux deserve our thanks as well for executing their board positions so efficiently and with fine attention to the details.
Thanks also to our dedicated Executive Director, Louise Pedersen, for her tireless enthusiasm in advancing and growing the ORCBC brand with the movers and shakers in our province. Additionally, her team, Ximena and Soraya have been very effective and highly competent in fulfilling their respective roles within the ORC.
ORCBC is in a good place right now and has a very exciting future. If I can accomplish just one thing as Chair, it will be not to stand in the way of progress! Though I say that tongue in cheek, there is some truth to it.
Lastly, I’m always open to feedback on how I can improve and be more effective in my new role. I make no claims of being an expert!
I look forward to working with all of you in the coming year,
Eric
Get to know Eric
Eric is affiliated with and nominated by the Columbia Valley Greenways Trail Alliance and has been an ORCBC Director since 2021.
Upon his retirement in April 2019, after 21 years as owner/operator of the A&W Restaurant in Invermere, Eric discovered he now had time to get more involved in recreational trail advocacy. Later that year, he was nominated to join the Provincial Trails Advisory Body. Since being elected as director on the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC in 2021, he has continued his involvement on the Outdoor Recreation Fund committee and chairs the ORCBC Policy Committee.
In addition to his role with ORCBC, Eric continues to work at a local level as Co-Chair for the Columbia Valley Greenways Trail Alliance and Treasurer for the Columbia Valley Cycling Society.
Eric is passionate about all things related to recreational trails and is very encouraged by the level of collaboration and mutual respect between the multiple user groups represented on the ORCBC board of directors.