Stephen Chenier to join Water Polo Canada as Chief Executive Officer

Ottawa, March 8, 2023 - Water Polo Canada (WPC) is pleased to announce the hiring of Stephen Chenier as its Chief Executive Officer starting April 1, 2023.

Steve Chenier brings over 30 years of experience in business development, team leadership, financial planning and customer relations management to WPC. Most recently, he was the Executive Director for CurlON, which has 184 member facilities and 48,000 members. During his time there, Steve created and executed CurlONTV, a streaming service that enhanced exposure of the sport (over 1,000,000 viewers during their Men’s and Women’s Championship in January 2023) and increased revenues through sponsorship for not just CurlON, but individual athletes as well. He was also responsible for implementing promotional campaigns to attract new participants to the sport, with a focus on applying global diversity, equity and inclusion benchmarks to all programs, as well as for enhancing the Association’s adoption of the Safe Sport program.

“The extensive and varied skill set that Steve has acquired from holding senior staff positions in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and his time spent as a member of the Board of Directors in other sports, will benefit WPC in its quest for excellence,” said WPC President Kathleen Dawson. “His ingenuity and business acumen will allow WPC to embrace new opportunities to increase the sport’s profile domestically, and his perspective on stakeholder engagement will undoubtedly benefit WPC as we start a new phase of planning for the future of our sport in Canada. Please join me in welcoming Steve Chenier to WPC!”

“I’m really excited to join WPC,” said Steve Chenier. “I have worked to understand the sports sector while bringing my past leadership skills from the private sector, including business ownership, to the not-for-profit world.”

“During my time with CurlON, I learned that gaining an understanding of the many intricacies of a sport, from the local club level up through to the Provincial/Territorial organizations all the way to the National Association, is paramount to the success of the organization. Building a strong communications base amongst all the relevant partners and stakeholders is imperative in bringing a trusting and cooperative relationship to the table.”

When Steve Chenier joins WPC at the beginning of April, he will be taking over for WPC’s current Executive Director, Martin Goulet, who announced his March 31 departure in mid-October 2022.