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
\u200brepresentatives of our Member Associations, Professional League-in-Membership,
\u200bProfessional Club Members, and representatives for our National Teams,
\u200breferees, and coaches as we navigate this challenging public health emergency,”
\u200bsaid Dr. Nick Bontis, Canada Soccer President. “The challenges we are all
\u200bfacing require unique solutions and we are grateful to be working as a
\u200bcollective to ensure that the sport recovers and flourishes as we turn the
\u200bcorner of this battle against COVID-19.”
Originally appointed as Canada Soccer’s first female and
\u200bperson of colour to serve as Canada Soccer Vice President by the Board of
\u200bDirectors in January, Crooks was officially elected to serve the remainder of
\u200bthe post vacated when Dr. Nick Bontis become Canada Soccer President at the
\u200b2020 AMM in November. Elections for the upcoming four-year Vice President post
\u200bcommencing in 2022 will take place at next year’s Annual Meeting.
Crooks has been a member of the Canada Soccer Board of
\u200bDirectors since 2013 and currently serves as a member of FIFA’s Organising
\u200bCommittee for FIFA Competitions. In 2012, Crooks was named as a Member of the
\u200bOrder of Canada. Crooks is a five-time Olympian and Olympic Silver Medallist.
\u200bShe was Canada’s flag bearer at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. She also serves
\u200bas a FIFA Match Commissioner.
Paul-Claude Bérubé has
\u200bserved on the Canada Soccer Board of Directors since 2015. After graduating
\u200bfrom the University of Laval in 1983, he joined the Quebec Bar in 1984
\u200bspecializing in administrative, governance and commercial law and served 10
\u200byears on Bar’s Arbitration Committee. A leader in accessibility affairs, he has
\u200badditionally 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
\u200bathlete at the University of Kanas who served as a member of Trinidad &
\u200bTobago’s track team in international competition. She is a MSc. Law graduate of
\u200bthe CIES/FIFA International Centre for Sport Studies in the Management of
\u200bHumanities of Sport.
Stephanie Geosits is an experienced sports executive that
\u200bhas worked in a variety of Canadian soccer roles including most-recently as
\u200bExecutive Director of Burlington Youth Soccer. She is a former Director,
\u200bMarketing & Communications at Ontario Soccer. Geosits graduated from
\u200bHarvard’s Kennedy School of Government with a Masters in Public Policy in 1998.