A new era at the ACC
We’re proud and excited to announce the appointment of our new Executive Director and President. Read on to learn why this is a momentous occasion for the club.
The ACC’s first woman President
The results are in from The Alpine Club of Canada’s 2022 board of directors election and one of the results is historic. Isabelle Daigneault will be the first woman to serve as President of the ACC in the club’s 116-year history.
From Arthur Oliver Wheeler, who served as the first ACC President beginning in 1906, to Neil Bosch, the outgoing President today, the club has seen 34 men in the role. Daigneault will make history when she is confirmed as President at the club’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday, May 14. Neil Bosch offered his congratulations to Isabelle, saying she was a great Secretary when she was on the Board of Directors previously, and will make an even greater President.
In other election news, Richard Campbell was elected to a second term as club Secretary and Frank Spears was re-elected by acclimation as Vice President for Activities. The ACC’s board of directors is made up of nine positions, three of which come up for election each year with directors serving three-year terms.
The new president
Known in her professional life as a caring leader, Daigneault is no stranger to the ACC, or to the board of directors. She’s been a member for 25 years and served 13 years on the board overseeing portfolios of Access & Environment, Mountain Culture and most recently the club’s governance through her role as club Secretary from 2014 to 2019, leaving the board at the end of her term.
“116 years after Manitoban Elizabeth Parker helped form the ACC and became Club secretary, Isabelle, a Francophone originally from Quebec, finally becomes the first female president of the club. A well overdue and historic step in maturity for the club to fully celebrate not only Isabelle’s talents but to thereby recognize the talents, skills and leadership of all those other women who have contributed so much to the ACC and to the richness of Canadian mountaineering. ”
New Executive Director
The ACC has also announced that Carine Salvy will take over as the new Executive Director to lead the staff and the operations at the club’s national office in Canmore.
Carine brings a diverse background to the ED role with more than 25 years of experience in executive management, corporate governance and leadership in the outdoor industry. Carine was most recently the CEO and co-founder of Mountain Path, a France-based company that works to develop responsible leadership within organizations through experiential learning activities in the mountains. Carine is fluent in French, English and Spanish and is actively involved in the local community, serving on the board of some of the Bow Valley’s not for profit organizations.
Carine will be coming on board as the first female Executive Director as Isabelle becomes the first female President. The ACC has never welcomed a new President and ED at the same time, so this represents an opportunity for the ACC to renew its sense of purpose and direction, building on the past and developing the swiftness needed to adapt to today’s ever-changing world.
Evolution of the ACC
The election and hiring of women to the top roles in the ACC has been a long time coming, but has also been part of a continuing evolution. The ACC was founded in 1906 as a club for mountaineering, a sport that was male-dominated in the earliest years of the 20th century. In recent years, the club has made concrete moves to diversify and represent more of the country’s population and those who recreate in the outdoors and the alpine environment. In an effort to be more inclusive, the club has offered mountaineering and backcountry ski trips for decades for women and non-binary-identifying individuals and more recently has begun offering outings specifically for BIWOC (Black, Indigenous Women Of Colour) participants.
We look forward to deepening and improving our role as leaders in Canada’s mountain environments under our new leadership team!