Parrish out as CAO of Canada Games 2021
The Canada Summer Games 2021 board of directors is looking for a new chief administrative officer, The Standard has learned.
Wayne Parrish, who was hired for the position in January and began his duties on March 1, is leaving for personal reasons.
“We mutually agreed, because of personal reasons, he couldn’t make a full commitment to Niagara in a way that we needed to fulfil the vision of the games,” said Doug Hamilton, chair of the 2021 Canada Summer Games Host Society board of directors. “We have a transition team that consists of some of our board members and chairs of our committees.
“This stage of the planning process is early enough that we won’t skip a beat, and we are going to solidify plans for a fulltime replacement in the coming weeks.”
Attempts to reach Parrish by phone and text were unsuccessful.
Parrish was hired with a background of executive-level experience in both media and sports. He had served as chief operating officer for the Postmedia Network of newspapers. He was also a president and CEO of Basketball Canada. He left Basketball Canada to take the Niagara Summer Games job.
Along with Hamilton, the Summer Games board consists of prominent community members including Tom Arkell, associate vice-president of university services at Brock University; Michele O’Keefe, the athletic director at Niagara College; Liz Palmieri, former executive director of
Niagara Community Foundation; Tom Rankin, CEO of Rankin Construction; and Wade Stayzer, vice-president of sales and service for Meridian Credit Union.
“We have a very skilled and engaged board that has stepped in,” Hamilton said. “We understand Wayne’s reasons, and that he was unable to commit to being here in a way we needed him. We have people on the board that have the community connections we need. They are all engaged and ready to step up.”
Board members reached Sunday directed the enquiries to Hamilton.
More than 5,000 young athletes from across Canada will head to Niagara in the summer of 2021 for the Games, which will also require thousands of volunteers. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 visitors are expected to attend. Experts have said the three-week event will have a $200-million economic impact on Niagara.
The bid submitted to the Canada Games Council includes plans to build new sport and recreation facilities in Niagara and improve some existing facilities. Much of the sports infrastructure will be located at Canada Games Park adjacent to Brock University, which will host the athletes village.
Provincial, federal and regional governments have pledged to invest $10.35 million each in the Games.