BGC Fort McMurray Names New Executive Director To Take Over Leadership of Accredited Child and Youth Organization

BGC Fort McMurray (BGCFM) is pleased to welcome Jennifer Kennett to the role of Executive Director where, under her leadership, the Club will continue to enrich the lives of local children and youth by providing safe, caring and accessible programming to thousands of families in the community.

“Not only is Jennifer a highly respected leader in our community with an impressive resume of programming, management and social profit experience, but she is truly passionate about our community,” says Matthew Parlee, Board Chair of BGCFM. “One of the things we are most proud of at the Club is the culture of caring and trust we have established. And we, as a board, are very excited to see how under Jennifer’s leadership, our club will continue to foster this philosophy and positively impact families in our community.”

Jennifer succeeds Michelle Farrow who led BGCFM since 2017 and was instrumental in escalating the organization’s position as a leader in child and youth programming in the Wood Buffalo region. Michelle recently secured a leadership opportunity with the town of Port Hawkesbury at home in Nova Scotia. “We cannot thank Michelle enough for her dedication to Wood Buffalo’s children and youth,” said Parlee.

To make this a fair hiring process and to ensure the most qualified and best-matched candidate for the Executive Director role was hired, the BGCFM held an open competition for which Jennifer was selected. Jennifer will officially transition into her new role starting June 14th. Jennifer joins the Club from FuseSocial, where she served as the Programming Director since 2019 and Leadership Coordinator prior to that. Jennifer was instrumental in growing the Leadership Wood Buffalo Program to the success it is today and has been a champion for FuseSocial, its team, and the agencies they work with.

“Even though we are losing an incredible asset to our leadership team, we are both excited and supportive of this next step in her career,” says Chantal Beaver, Executive Director of FuseSocial. “As an organization, one of our core values is leadership and development within the sector, and that value holds true to all of our staff.”