Annual General Meeting Inside Golf Manitoba

Golf Manitoba Announces 2020/21 Board of Directors

WINNIPEG, MB – The 2020/21 Golf Manitoba Board of Directors was announced during the Golf Manitoba Annual General Meeting that was held virtually on October 28, 2020.

Golf Manitoba is the governing body for golf in the province of Manitoba and Northwest Ontario. Its mission is to develop, promote, govern and service the game of golf in Manitoba and North West Ontario for the benefit of all participants.

The Board of Directors is comprised of dedicated volunteers from across the golf community in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario. The Board’s duties are to direct the business of the association.

“It has been a pleasure to serve the golfing community as President of Golf Manitoba for the past year. Thank you to the entire Board of Directors. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve with such an incredibly committed and engaged group of individuals. I am looking forward to what 2021 will bring,” said Golf Manitoba President Ken Warwick.

The 2020/21 Golf Manitoba Board of Directors is made up of the following individuals:

Officers:

Vince Mariani (Past President) has been a Golf Manitoba board member since 2011 and has served as Treasurer and Vice-President.  Vince has been a proud member of Elmhurst Golf and Country Club since 1992 and served on the board of directors for several years and as president in 2009 and 2010.  A CPA, CMA, Vince is recently retired after 35 years as Secretary-Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of the River East Transcona School Division.

Craig Martin (Treasurer) is an Assistant Professor of Business and Organizational Administration in the Redekop School of Business at Canadian Mennonite University.  He has a PhD in Agricultural Economics and Business from the University of Guelph and is a CPA, CMA.  He joined the Board of Assiniboine Golf Club in July of 2016.  He became President of the Assiniboine Golf Club in 2017.  He joined the Board of Golf Manitoba in 2017.

Wayne McWhirter (President Elect) has been a Golf Manitoba Board Member since 2015  and is currently  the Chair of the Course Rating Committee.   Wayne is a member of Southwood Golf and Country Club, and was President of the Club in 2013-2014. As part of his Community involvement, he was Chair of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and a Board member of Winnipeg and Canadian Chambers of Commerce. He retired in 2016 as a partner in MNP LLP , a national accounting firm.  He was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He is currently the chair of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Ken Warwick (President) has served as a Golf Manitoba Board member since 2014 and is also currently the Tournament Committee Chairman. He has represented Manitoba golf on many occasions at the National level. Ken has been a member of Niakwa Country Club since 1986 and has been on the Social and Competition Committee for 10 years and the Greens Committee for many years before that. Ken currently resides as the  Captain of the Senior Putter Golf Team and Past Captain of the Mundie Putter Team. He is a licensed realtor since 1988 and has been with Century 21 Bachman & Associates since 1993.

Susan Wright-Cassan (Vice-President) has been a member of the Golf Manitoba Board of Directors since 2016. As part of her Board duties, she serves on the Tournament Committee, Course Rating Committee, Finance Committee, Nominating Committee and is Chair of the Membership Committee. Sue earned her PGA of Canada Community Golf Coach certification in the spring of 2018 and has been organizing Golf in School programs in Thunder Bay for the last 6 years.

Sue helps to organize and run a mixed fun event with all raised funds supporting the Golf in School program.  To date, eight schools have received equipment and classroom instructions from the three years that she has run this event.  Sue is also President of the Superior North Ladies Golf Association since inception in 2011.  They run four golf events each year with a mandate to introduce more women to the sport of golf in the region.

Volunteer and career highlights:

Directors:

Michael Berney has served as a member of the Golf Manitoba Board since 2016 and has been active in the Manitoba golf community since the early 80s.  He has competed in numerous Golf Manitoba and Golf Canada events.

Mike has been a member of Transcona Golf Club for over 35 years and has served on their Board of Directors since the 90’s and most recently from 2011 until 2017 in the role of Golf Director. He has extensive experience organizing successful tournaments.

Mike is a life long Manitoban residing in Winnipeg and retired from the railroad in 2010 after 37 years of service.

James (Jim) Gosman has served as a Golf Manitoba board director since 2014 and the Rules Chairman for 1 year.  He started with Golf Manitoba as a rules official in 2012 and has since obtained a level 3 ranking, where he officiates 6-8 golf tournaments each year.  Jim was a teacher for 32 years and has been associated with sport as a player, coach, and referee for over 60 years.  He has coached basketball at the Junior High, High School, and the Provincial Levels and was the coach of a silver medal team at the Canada Games. Jim spent 30 years as a NCCP Theory of Coaching facilitator at all levels receiving the 2014 Community NCCP Coach Development Award from Sport Canada. In addition to officiating golf, he has refereed basketball and volleyball for many years. James has been part of the mission staff for Sport Manitoba at the Manitoba Games, the Western Canada Games, and the Canada Games.  He is a currently a member of the Golf Manitoba Public Players program and since retirement has maintained a membership in the EDG (Every Day Golfers) group.

Phil Guenther is a member of the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Club and joins the Board of Directors for his first term in 2020/21. Phil has over 42 years of experience in grocery retail, finance and accounting, property management, purchasing and as a senior administration in education. He also brings with him consider Board experience having served on the Manitoba Community Services Council (2000-2002), the Grace Church (2000-present) in Steinbach, Manitoba, the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Club (1993-2002) and the Hanover School Division (2009-present). In addition to his past board experience, Phil has served in a volunteer capacity as Secretary and Treasurer of the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Club (2004-2015) and Treasurer of the Town of Steinbach Provincial Men’s Curling Championship Host Committee.

R.F. (Bob) Peters has served as a Golf Manitoba Director since 2017 and was appointed Chair of the Sponsorship Committee this year. Bob is a Partner with the law firm Fillmore Riley LLP. and practices primarily in the area of Regulatory Law and Administrative Law representing clients in the relationship between government and its citizens. Bob has, throughout his advocacy practice, appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Manitoba Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Court of Queen’s Bench, the Public Utilities Board, Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, and numerous other Administrative Tribunals. Bob is involved with golf through St. Charles Country Club where he was a member of the committee that brought Brooke Henderson to Winnipeg in July 2018 in support of junior golf in Manitoba.

Fred Smith  has served as a Golf Manitoba Director since 2019 and was appointed Chair of the Player Development Committee.  As well, he volunteers on the Course Rating Team.  Fred is a long-time member of Wildewood Golf Course.  He spent 30 years in public education as a teacher, coach and school administrator.  After retirement, he spent 17 years in private business as a consultant.  Previously, he has served as a director in several volunteer organizations such as the Lake of the Woods Property Owners Association and the Organization for Co-operation In Overseas Development.  In the 1970’s, while a high school teacher, he initiated, organized and supervised the development of the Winnipeg School Division’s annual high school golf tournaments.

Kathy Turner is a retired Assistant Commissioner for the Canada Revenue Agency.  Kathy’s working background is in accounting, finance, information technology, and tax policy and has significant senior management experience. She has board and volunteer experience in golf at the club level and with the former Canadian Ladies Golf Association (CLGA).  Kathy also has board experience with charitable organizations such as the United Way and Citizen’s Advocacy of Ottawa (an organization that works with adults with disabilities).  Kathy was a founding director of Camelot Golf and Country Club.

For more information:

Jared Ladobruk
Executive Director
Golf Manitoba
204-925-5729
jared@golfmb.ca