Contact Centre Canada’s 6th Annual General Meeting
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John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail’s Ottawa Bureau Chief, engaged industry leaders at Contact Centre Canada’s Sixth Annual General Meeting at the Delta Fredericton on June 10th, 2010.
Scott Williams, Chair of Contact Centre Canada opened the meeting and thanked Members, guests, and government officials in attendance both in person and on teleconference. Mr. Williams was enthusiastic to relay, that while Contact Centre Canada is relatively new, it has made significant progress in supporting the industry across Canada. Contact Centre Canada feels strongly that its vision will strengthen the contact centre industry overall and demonstrate that Canada is the ‘destination of choice’ for contact centre business.
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Mr. Williams presided over the meeting and all voting points on the agenda were approved, including acceptance of financial statements, by-law amendments and elections to the Board of Directors.
Over the recent months there have been many changes to the Contact Centre Canada Board of Directors. Mr. Williams took a moment to recognize the out-going Board Members and their significant contribution to the organization and the industry as a whole.
- Doug Downing
- Past Chair, 2009 – 2010
- Chair of the Board, 2006 – 2009
- Director, 2004 – 2006
- Richard Moore
- Vice-Chair, 2009 – 2010
- Director, 2007 – 2009
- Co-Chair, Governance, 2008 – 2009
- Pat Solman
- Director, 2009 – 2010
- Secretary/Treasurer, 2009 – 2010
Mr. Williams, on behalf of Contact Centre Canada and its Board of Directors, formerly introduced newly elected Directors:
- Tammy Legacy –Manager, Operations, Asurion, Moncton, New Brunswick
- Robert Campbell – Director of Operations, Virtual-Agent Services, Moncton, New Brunswick
- Sandra MacLennan – General Manager, Customer Care Team, Purolator Courier, Mississauga, Ontario
- Debbie LeBlanc – Vice President, Customer Care, MTS Allstream, Winnipeg, Manitoba
2010 - 2011 Board of Directors
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Robert Campbell ( Virtual-Agent Services), Richard Moore (Former Vice-Chair), Jean Mitchell (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Scott Williams (Chair, Canadian Tire Financial Services), Arleen King (TELUS Consumer Solutions), John Ibbitson (Keynote Speaker), Patsy Bertoia (Federal Express Canada Ltd.), Tammy Legacy (Asurion), Donna Miller (Contact Centre Canada CEO), and Howie West (Public Service Alliance of Canada). |
| Absent: Dave Dobrosky (Scotiabank), Debbie LeBlanc (MTS Allstream), Sandra MacLennan (Purolator Courier) and Kathryn O’Gorman (Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital). |
Mr. Williams and CEO Donna Miller delivered a compelling address which included Contact Centre Canada’s continuing efforts to build a world class Canadian contact centre industry brand.
To learn more about Contact Centre Canada, its projects and future, you can download the PowerPoint Presentation from the Annual General Meeting.
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John Ibbitson, AGM keynote speaker, Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Mr. Ibbitson delivered a rousing and perceptive premiere speech about the Canadian demographic revolution and how that impacts the Canadian economy, political life, and culture. He delved into his theories about the demographic changes in Canada and how the upcoming and future leaders of Canada will change the way it will be run.
Mr. Ibbitson contends that these demographic shifts have created a ‘New Canada’ made up primarily by Millenials and by the continued positive immigration policy that Canada employs.
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Mr. Ibbitson believes that many of the changes coming from this ‘New Canada’ are positive, but that there are issues that come with this shift. Most significantly that the emerging members of the ‘New Canada’ do not vote – that the old political structure does not speak to the Millenials. “Is there a new Canadian politician that could speak to this young Canada?” asks Mr. Ibbitson. “Yes. He is out there. His name is Barack Obama. I have often referred to Barack Obama as the multi-cultural Canadian Prime Minister that Canada never had.”
Mr. Ibbitson believes that we are seeing a shift in Canada’s place in the world from Canada being seen as ‘nice guy on the planet’ to emerging as a ‘more aggressive, more expansionist, more globally engaged country.’ Mr. Ibbitson believes that much of this shift comes from a ‘more aggressive patriotism’ that is based on the transformation of the Canadian Armed Forces backed by a country that is not afraid to project force if is seen to be for the good of the nation.
Mr. Ibbitson poses the following question on how this ‘New Canada’ will directly impact industry with a changing workforce that understands that training (and re-training) is necessary and the semi-skilled job is disappearing. He asks: “How will our workforce change to accommodate the new Canadian worker? Who will be more technologically savvy, less unionized, more urban, more entrepreneurial, less loyal, more female, and much, much more demanding? These are the questions that employers are going to have to face as they seek to recruit and retain new workers.”
He concludes his theories on this ‘new Canada’ prophesising that, “no country in the world is going to be as fascinating in this century as Canada is becoming. The new immigrant, forward-looking, patriotic, tolerant Canada will challenge observers trying to understand it, and politicians who seek to speak for it, and journalist who are trying desperately to get their heads around it, and companies who are trying to sell things to it. . . Canadians have used politeness to ferment a social revolution. From that revolution, our Canada has emerged - young, creative, polyglot, forward-looking, fabulous. I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait to see how this all turns out.”
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Member feedback stated that the Annual General meeting was informative and demonstrated the organization’s commitment and support to the contact centre industry in Canada. They found Mr. Ibbitson’s speech to be ‘interesting, insightful and thought-provoking.’ |
Contact Centre Canada looks forward to all the upcoming planned activities scheduled across Canada over the next year, fulfilling its mandate to contribute to the health and prosperity of the customer contact centre industry and its workforce.