MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of the Canadian Evaluation Society, I welcome you to Vancouver and to the 2017 CES Conference. This Conference is inspired by prospects for the future of evaluation: innovation, action and reflection. At CES there is a true sense of a society that is national and coast to coast, from St. John’s to Vancouver. This is exciting as we embrace the role of evaluation in provinces, territories, nationally and internationally.
I would like to welcome warmly those of you from outside of Canada. I hope that you feel welcome here in the beautiful west coast of Canada with its mountains, rivers, valleys, and coast lines. Our keynotes this year pay attention to and give respect to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. British Columbia is particularly rich in this regard.
The next three days will surely constitute a milestone for our profession. For me, the annual Conference is always an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and to meet new people. This year will undoubtedly be inspirational for me as your new President. I look forward to meeting new people and to renewing my acquaintance with old friends. I intend to continue to build my network but I also want to help feed yours. Thank you in advance for meeting with me and for allowing me to put you in contact with other evaluators to help you refine your own practice. Social events concocted by the organizers will facilitate our task. Moreover, Vancouver is a city of contrasts with coastlines and mountains merging in the horizon.
I am thankful for the commitment of the CES British Columbia- Yukon Chapter to host and organize this conference. One of the pleasant surprises for me as president has been seeing the amount of time our volunteers commit to the Society. It has been a challenge for me to keep up. I witnessed the drive of the British Columbia people in the organization of this Conference. I want to celebrate the many volunteers of the Host Committee as well as the vendor representatives who gave it their all to make this Conference a great success. I thank them from the bottom of my heart, in particular the two Co-Chairs Chris Lovato and Sarah Farina, who were deeply inspiring and effective leaders. It is also important to note the substantial input of sponsors who contribute to the financial success of this project.
I wish you a memorable Conference. Your comments are always welcome.
Harry Cummings, Ph.D., R.P.P.,
National President, Canadian Evaluation Society
