Cycling BC announces changes in leadership for 2016
Succeeding outgoing director Richard Wooles, Jim Richards, a press release said, will guide the direction of cycling in B.C.
Speaking for the board of Cycling BC, British Columbia’s official provincial cycling body, officials have announced a change in executive leadership for the organization. Succeeding outgoing director Richard Wooles, Jim Richards, a press release said, will guide the direction of the sport in B.C.
Cycling BC made the announcement on Wednesday evening.
The departure of Cycling BC’s current executive leadership represents a change in direction for Wooles, whose focus is on developing riders and working on the path from schools to cycling groups. In order to pursue that vision and “remain true to himself and to remain connected to his passions,” the release explained, Wooles decided he would need to step aside, ceding his responsibilities to others.
Jim Richards, who will take over when Wooles makes that transition, comes to the organization with an illustrious 20-year career in large-scale event management behind him. Notably, those roles put him in charge of three campaigns in recent years with which Canadians, whether they follow cycling or not, are likely universally familiar. Holding the title of senior director, Richards achieved results for Vancouver 2010, The Rick Hansen Foundation and Bell Let’s Talk, working on existing marketing and stakeholder relationships.
Just as vitally, though, is Richards’ approach to sporting and an active lifestyle in general—something obviously shared by Cycling BC’s working principles. His philosophy, the organization said, is one of “sport for life,” having hiked, ran, and of course, biked throughout British Columbia. Experienced in several fondos and triathlons, he also recently completed his first ‘cross race. Given the skyrocketing popularity of the sport in both B.C. and Canada at large, that’s something that comes as a particular asset.
In running Cycling BC as executive director, Richards will bring that philosophy to its leadership, with the belief that society’s mental and physical health can be improved, and even changed altogether, by sports.
