Home fires burn brightest
Michele O’Keefe returning to Welland after two decades with Canada Basketball
Outgoing Canada Basketball president and chief executive officer Michele O’Keefe tips off the home half of her career in sport management on July 3.
That’s when the Welland native officially takes over as the associate director of athletics and recreation at Niagara College.
While leaving the top job at Canada Basketball for a position at the regional community college seems like a big step down, that’s not how O’Keefe sees what many people consider a head-scratching move.
“Everybody has asked me that,” she said with a laugh. “It’s actually much more simple than people think, I’ve always wanted to have a job back down in Niagara.
“I always thought it would be great to come back, and in the last 20 years there haven’t been any positions that were suited to my skill set.”
O’Keefe, who had with Canada Basketball except for a three-year stint as Ontario Basketball CEO since 1994, hadn’t been expecting a move any time soon. But the opportunity opening to succeed Matthew Davies at the region’s community college was too good to pass up.
“Maybe the timing wasn’t 100 per cent good,” she said. “I probably would have liked a couple of more years at Canada Basketball, but I think that this is just one of those moments that you have to jump on.
“These opportunities don’t come around every day.”
Still, going from the head of a national sport governing body to overseeing all sports at one of 22 colleges in a province seems like such a big change, like going from high-profile federal cabinet minister to mayor of a city, and not a large one at that.
“But how beautiful is that?” said the 53-yearold, answering the obvious question with a question of her own. “To me, that’s the dream job. I don’t want to die at Canada Basketball, for God’s sakes. I’ve been on and off there for 24 years.
“For me, it’s like, ‘Why should I wait until I’m dead before I leave, why can’t I leave and have a simpler life now?’”
The attractions of coming home are many for the Welland Centennial Secondary School graduate and Welland Sports Wall of Famer, Class of 2016.
“Life in Toronto is very busy,” he said. “I’ve loved it, but for me coming home is my parents are here, there’s family here, it’s a simpler lifestyle. “To me, that’s a big part for me.” There will be less traveling, though O’Keefe will continue maintaining her FIFA roles for the time being.
“My terms don’t end until next year.”
Her last day at Canada Basketball, June 30, comes two weeks after the FIBA U18 Americas Championship wrapped up at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
“For me, it’s a great time to step away,” O’Keefe said. “I think we have done an amazing job of creating some great alignment and some great success and momentum with basketball in this country.
“I’m really proud of the time that we’ve assembled, not only in the athletes and the coaches but even in the office. We’ve got a tremendous group of people.”
What will she miss most about her old job will the people and the relationships formed over the years.
“There are some amazing people, whether it’s coaches or athletes, staff or board members that I’ve gotten to know as colleagues and, often, as friends.”
O’Keefe thinks there is a “great opportunity” in Niagara for sport development, and that the college can take a “significant role” in making that happen.
“I’m excited about it.” O’Keefe sees the job of athletic director as supporting coaches and the mandate of the college. Institutionally, it involves, she added, creating a “great vision” that elevates the college to a plateau recognized and respected in the community, as well in the province and nationally.
O’Keefe’s new job puts her back in a school setting for the first time since graduating from Montreal’s Bishops University in 1987. That, she said, require a period of adjustment.
“For me, personally, my biggest challenge is getting used to an educational institution,” she said. “I’ve never worked at a school before, so I have to understand what that all looks like.”
O’Keefe intends to hit the ground running, though not to the point, she admitted with a chuckle, of being a whirlwind.
“You’ve known me long enough to know that I come in with a lot of energy sometimes,” she told this reporter. “I need to make sure I don’t scare everybody away.
“I need to understand what I don’t know before I figure out what we’re doing going forward.”
Unlike her role at the Canada Basketball, where she was the overall overseer of an organization based in Toronto, O’Keefe will get to have a “bigger impact” on the athletes themselves in her new role.
MICHELE O’KEEFE
“‘Why should I wait until I’m dead before I leave, why can’t I leave and have a
simpler life now?’” Outgoing Canada Basketball CEO
Michele O’Keefe
“You to see these kids every day,” she said. “With national team athletes, you only see them in the summer for short periods of time, so you can only have so much influence.
“One of the things I’m excited about is building relationships with these young adults and helping them figure out what they want to be as they become contributing people to society, so to speak.”
She intends to take advantage of the two months between starting her new job and the start of the new school year by tackling the “foundational homework” she needs to get used to.
“It’s not like I have to be thrown right into the fire,” she said. “I think I get to wade in slowly, and figure out the lay of the land, figure out where people’s offices are, figure out where my office is.
“And get used to things like process, a different process than we follow with Sport Canada.”
Her contacts with the national governing bodies of other sports is something that she will bring to the table in her job at the college.
“I think I can still help people make those connections where it’s necessary.”
Dave Taylor, associate vicepresident of academic and learner services, said the college is “thrilled” to welcome O’Keefe back home.
“Her leadership skills and experience managing provincial and national sport associations, as well as her strong community connections, will help cement Niagara College’s role as a key player in Niagara’s sport and tourism industries.”
O’Keefe is selling her condominium in Toronto and moving back to Welland.
“I’ll hang out with my parents until that all gets settled. Lucky them.”