Board of Directors
Board of Directors
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Jon Festinger
viaSport Board Chair
Jon Festinger, Q.C. is a Vancouver-based lawyer, strategic advisor and educator practicing law in digital media, creative freedoms as well as entertainment, communication and sport matters. As a graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Law, Jon began his legal career in private practice, in turn becoming General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of WIC Western International Communications Ltd., Senior Vice President of the CTV Television Network and EVP Business & General Counsel of the Vancouver Canucks and GM Place. He brings a wealth of experience, having held leadership positions with various organizations including Chair of Ronald McDonald House British Columbia, Director of the eatART Foundation, Director of City Opera Vancouver, and Director of the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Jon is also an educator as he has taught media, entertainment, communications and corporate law topics for almost three decades. Currently, he is a Professor of Professional Practice at Simon Fraser University, a faculty member at the Centre for Digital Media, Adjunct Professor at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, Sessional Faculty at the Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University as well as Honorary Industry Professor, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London School of Law.
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Rick Ramsbottom
viaSport Vice Chair
Rick Ramsbottom is a leading Canadian sponsorship and marketing executive. Over the past 20 years, he has worked in professional sports with the Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps, as well as on major nation-building events including the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Rick was also the Vice President, Sponsorship Sales and Service for the highly successful Toronto 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. In this role, he was responsible for all corporate partnerships and was the leader for the record-setting sponsorship program that delivered $135M in revenue – over three times any previous Pan American Games. Rick is currently a sponsorship marketing consultant based in Vancouver.
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Todd Kobus
viaSport Secretary/Treasurer
Todd Kobus is the Vice President of Finance and the Chief Financial Officer for Canucks Sports & Entertainment, overseeing all financial aspects of the Hockey and Arena Business Operations. Kobus also oversees the organization’s IT Department and manages financial relationships with the National Hockey League, lending institutions and the external financial community. Prior to his tenure with the Canucks, Kobus was the Project Director of Budgets and Financial Planning for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games. He has also worked as the Director of Finance for the Vancouver Grizzlies and followed the team to Memphis to take on a new role as Vice President of Finance for the Memphis Grizzlies.
In honour of his incredible work, in 2008 Kobus was named one of Business in Vancouver's Top 40 under 40. Todd is also a Board Member on the 2010 Games Operating Trust Society, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC, and the father of two sons, Zachary and Harrison.
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Caley Denton
viaSport Board Member
Having spent the better part of his working life within the business of sport, Caley has an acute understanding of how sport impacts our communities and our province. He is passionate about bringing perspective, change, and innovation to BC’s sport sector.
In a dynamic career spanning senior leadership positions with Orca Bay Sports and Canucks Entertainment and continuing on to his role as Vice President, Ticketing and Consumer Marketing with the Vancouver Organization Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), Caley made his mark as an innovative leader with a specialty in revenue generation. Currently the Executive Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Shape Property Management, Caley oversees the development and management of commercial properties throughout BC and Alberta, utilizing his expertise in marketing and business operations. In 2008 Caley was honoured to recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40. Caley is also a board member of the Canada Rugby Sevens.
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Loreen Barnett
viaSport Board Member
Sport and physical education have provided Loreen with a wealth of opportunities, from designing an integrated Health and Physical Education programme for the Delta School District in the 1980s, to positioning physical well-being at the centre of public school culture as an administrator with North Vancouver School District in the 1990s. Her current role is CEO and Secretary General of the International Triathlon Union, one of the newest and fastest growing sports on the Olympic programme.
Through her role as Technical Delegate to the sport of Triathlon’s debut on the 2000 Sydney Olympic programme, Loreen helped build an in-house team of event, media and television specialists that took the lesson from Olympic sport to the staging of the World Triathlon Series, the pinnacle of the sport worldwide. She was inducted into the Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame in 2005 and was named by CAAWS as one of Canada’s most influential women in sport and physical education for 2012. In 2017, Loreen was awarded the Daryl Thompson Award in recognition for her extraordinary contirubtion to amateur sport in British Columbia. Loreen’s current interest is nurturing mind-body well-being at all stages of life with a personal interest in “Decade 7.”
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Peter Lawless
viaSport Board Member
Peter has been involved in high performance sport for over 25 years in sailing, athletics and cycling and was recognized for his services to sport in 2012 with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. A three-time winner of Petro Canada's Coaching Excellence Award and Sport BC's Coach of the Year, Peter has seen great coaching success with his athletes winning over a dozen Paralympic and World Championships medals in both cycling and athletics, as well as breaking 27 world records. Peter is also the Vice President of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
In his "non-sport" life, Peter is a lawyer who frequently provides legal representation to sport organizations, athletes and coaches involved in sport-related disputes. Peter has appeared as counsel before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport centred in Lausanne, Switzerland and has also served as the Chief Arbitrator for several national level sports disputes. In addition to representing sport clients, Peter teaches Sport Law at Camosun College and is often called upon to speak to various sports groups and organizations about legal and other matters.
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Trisha Davison
viaSport Board Member
Trisha Davison is the Director of Parks & Recreation for the City of Trail and has been a professional in municipal recreation service delivery for over 20 years. She is known for taking a holistic approach to municipal recreation service delivery through the recognition of the role of local governments while nurturing the unique needs of the community she serves. Additionally, she previously managed recreation services in Rossland and was involved in seniors’ health and wellness in the City of New Westminster prior to moving to the West Kootenays.
Over the years, Trisha has been involved in facilitating many large sporting events through her role in municipal government including various provincial championships and the 2011 BC Seniors Games. In her earlier days, Trisha was involved in Trampoline and Acrosports competing at the provincial, national and international level. She is currently serving her second term on the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) Board and is a Board Director of the Greater Trail KidSport committee.