carya Welcomes New Chief Executive Officer

Calgary, AB - Sept 27, 2021

The carya Board of Directors is excited to announce Paula Telfer has been appointed as our new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Paula will begin her new role on October 18th.

Paula comes to carya from Easter Seals Alberta, where she has been CEO since 2019. Prior to her time at Easter Seals, she was Manager of Program Services at the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre and Executive Director of LINKages Society of Alberta. Much of her professional career has been spent at McMan Youth, Family, and Community Services as Manager of Family and Community Programs.

Paula is a Registered Professional Counsellor with a master’s degree in clinical counselling. She is the former Chair of the Early Childhood Coalition Committee of Alberta and is currently working on her second certification program through the Banff Centre Leadership Programs, after recently completing their Contextual Intelligence program.

She brings to carya her long history of working with families and the most vulnerable in our communities, and a deep desire to return to an organization that provides a wide spectrum of services for families and individuals.

Dave Granger, carya’s board chair, is confident Paula’s experience and vision will be catalysts for continuing our rich history of building strong families and communities. “She is a collaborative leader with strong skills in team development and delivering transformational change,” says Granger. “We are excited to have Paula lead carya, working with our exceptional executive team, staff, community partners, supporters and clients to build a stronger, more resilient community.”

The next phase in carya’s history cannot begin without a tremendous thank you to our interim CEO, Theresa Watson. Theresa stepped into the interim CEO role at a time when it was necessary for strong leadership to guide the organization through a number of challenges. She has had a significant impact in a short period of time, bringing our team together to progress several of carya’s business practices and providing our organization with the stability and leadership it needed. Theresa has built a stronger and more resilient foundation on which Paula can build. We thank her immensely for her tireless commitment and support and we are excited to see where Paula can take us next.

carya has deep roots in the Calgary community, and we know Paula will take the organization to new heights. Guided by her leadership, expertise, and creative vision, we look forward to continuing to be here for Calgarians for years to come.

Original Source: carya News