Board of Directors
If you would like to contact the board, please email board@viasport.ca.
Board of Directors
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Rick Ramsbottom
viaSport 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 the Co-Founder and Managing Director of UNITE Partnerships Inc., a sponsorship marketing agency based in Vancouver, BC
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Jessica Burton
viaSport Vice Chair
Jessica Burton’s involvement in marketing ranges from community-based to nation building sporting events. Her extensive experience in advertising and promotions allowed her to succeed as the Manager, Consumer Marketing and Promotions with the Vancouver Organization Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). In addition, Jessica has thrived through marketing strategy and community engagement capacities with lululemon athletica, Braun Allison, and Shape Properties Corporation.
Through her multitude of roles, Jessica has had the opportunity to create and manage the visual identity of brands, develop and implement marketing plans, and work closely with key stakeholders to ensure meaningful outcomes. Her multi-faceted career has also allowed her to witness the unification of diverse individuals, education of youth leadership and interpersonal skills, and beneficial impact on an individual’s physical and mental well-being through sport. In her current position as Senior Manager, Project Operations with Arc’teryx, Jessica continues to develop her skills in cross functional collaboration and project management.
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Samantha Shorter
viaSport Treasurer
Samantha Shorter, CPA, CA, works with public and private companies in various leadership roles and is a partner in a financial consulting group. With a diverse client list, she works in a multitude of operational, cultural and regulatory jurisdictions. In this role, she is a business owner, service provider, employer and leader.
Samantha began her journey in sport in rugby and played at the University of British Columbia. She continued to share her passion for the community by serving as the Treasurer for BC Rugby and as President for a three year term. In 2019, she was awarded the Chairman’s Award by Rugby Canada for leadership. As a member of the Board of viaSport, she endeavours to bring her experience in sport to encourage participation and education.
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Jon Festinger
viaSport Past 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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Kacey Dalzell
viaSport Board Member
Kacey has over twenty years of experience working in mental health in B.C. most recently as Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the Ministry of Health. Kacey has a solid record of leading and developing large strategic initiatives at program, health authority and provincial levels. Kacey holds a B.A., M.A. in Public Policy from Simon Fraser University and a Graduate Certificate in Child and Youth Mental Health from Thompson Rivers University.
As an athlete, Kacey was the first female athlete to play three varsity sports simultaneously at SFU: field hockey, swimming and softball.
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Tsnomot - Brad Baker
viaSport Board Member
Brad is a proud member of the Squamish Nation and carries the ancestral name Tsnomot, which he shares with his late grandfather and father.
Brad has been an educator for 26 years in the North Vancouver School District. For the last 10 years, his position has been District Principal with the portfolios of Indigenous Education and Safe Schools. Brad was selected to the Governor General of Canada’s Leadership Conference, where he was one of 250 leaders from across Canada that came together to develop strategies on how to move Canada forward in the next 150 years.
Brad has been active in the sport of rugby, as a coach and an administrator; lacrosse, as a player and an administrator; and soccer, as a player and a coach.
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Sam Punzo
viaSport Board Member
Sam is a lifelong athlete with a passion for making the game better than when he entered. Seeing women's sports as constantly underfunded and low numbers of female athletes cemented his interest in how to improve women's sports. This led Sam to Simon Fraser University where he is currently working towards a degree in Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies with a focus on women and the LGBTQ+ community in sports and has plans to go to grad school to conduct his own research. viaSport provides Sam with the opportunity to take his passion for diversity and equity in sports to help current and future athletes of British Columbia.
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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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Erica McGuinness
viaSport Board Member
Erica grew up as a multi-sport athlete and appreciates the life skills that participating in sport provided. Erica played varsity basketball at UBC, where she won three USPORT National Championships and is a member of the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. She is deeply committed to advancing sport and broadening participation through creating inclusive environments and exceptional experiences for athletes.
Erica brings financial acumen as a Partner with Sequeira Partners Inc. She holds a CPA, CA and CBV designation and a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Honours) from the University of British Columbia. Erica’s volunteerism extends beyond viaSport as she is Chair of the Thunderbird Alumni Council at UBC.
In her free time, Erica enjoys spending time with her family, hiking or biking the North Shore mountains, and improving her golf game.
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Eron Main
viaSport Board Member
Eron Main is a dominant leader who has worked in sport for both able-bodied athletes and athletes with a disability over the last 25 years. His humble beginnings of changing wheelchair tires in community gyms influenced his passion for Paralympic sport and his current involvement as CEO of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation. As a member of the International Paralympic Committee Sports Council, Eron took on a reformative leadership role to further the Paralympic movement when the group’s existence was challenged. His successful advocacy for the group resulted in the creation of the independent Association of Paralympic Sport Organizations (APS) to lead the development of a sustainable Paralympic sport system.
While well-immersed at the national and international level of sport, Eron’s previous experience as the Executive Director of Rowing BC allows him valuable familiarity with the B.C. sport sector. In addition, Eron continues to volunteer with Team BC’s mission staff, keeping him in touch with the vital train-to-train and train-to-complete levels with emerging high-performance athletes.
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Geoffrey Wong
viaSport Board Member
Geoff Wong is a Victoria-based strategic alliances expert with a lifelong passion for Canadian sport. His experience in event marketing, sponsorship and athlete representation was honed working with Canadian leaders in the field, including Christopher Lang and Associates and the Landmark Group. Geoff developed and implemented partnerships and strategic alliance strategies for major corporations, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ICBC, Coca-Cola, Manulife Financial and more.
Geoff couldn’t resist the opportunity to relocate to Victoria from his childhood home in Vancouver to be a part of the team that delivered the Commonwealth Games to that city, and it remains his home. He is currently active in property development, custom house construction and an owner of Accent Inns and Hotel Zed. A lifelong athlete, he competes in cycling and can be found chasing his kids around the ski hill all winter.