The Organizing Committee of the Congrès mondial acadien 2024 appointed the remaining members when they held their first Annual General Meeting earlier this month.
Chair Allister Surette says the appointments were just one of the steps they had to complete to get where they are today.
“The first step was to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Société nationale de l’Acadie that manages the world congresses. Then we had to look at incorporating our new society, which took a little bit of time, so those were probably the first three steps that we have completed.”
He says they had certain criteria as they looked to fill the remaining positions.
“What we were looking at was gender parity, we looked at having at least two youth on the board, and equal representation from Clare and from Argyle.”
Surette says they appointed the remaining members at their first Annual General Meeting earlier this month and now they need an operational staff.
“We’re a governance board, so we have to make sure that we have the proper governance in place, however, as soon as we hire an executive director, it’s the executive director that will lead the operational staff. So, this is the first step of a number to come.”
With only four years left to prepare, the board will start the process of hiring an executive director this week so they can get a staff.
The newest board members are Denise Babin, Adrien Comeau, Roger d’Entremont, Brandon Doucette, Brenda LaGrandeur, Angelique LeBlanc, and Yalla Sangaré, who join Allister Surette (Chair), Chris Frotten (Vice-Chair, Argyle), Natalie Robichaud (ViceChair, Clare), Nadine Comeau (Treasurer) and Lynette Muise (Secretary).