Atira Announces Experienced Public and Private Sector Leader Catherine Roome as Interim CEO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 30, 2023

Vancouver, B.C. | Unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations |

The Atira Women’s Resource Society has announced that Catherine Roome has accepted the position of interim CEO, as of July 1, 2023. Ms. Roome will be serving as interim CEO until a permanent CEO is recruited.

“The Board is delighted that Ms. Roome has accepted the position of interim CEO with Atira,” said Elva Kim, Board Chair. “We believe she is the right person to lead the organization and bring it into a new phase of governance and operational best practices. She has deep private and public-sector experience at both executive and governance levels. She is a leader of complex, public-focused organizations that serve diverse communities, which will be an asset as we work to restore public confidence in our operations.”

Atira is committed to rebuilding trust with government and the communities it serves.

“I am looking forward to working closely with Atira’s Board of Directors, staff, tenants and community members as well as the Province and BC Housing,” said Catherine Roome. “I am eager to help Atira conduct the hard but necessary work to reset and renew while ensuring the organization’s important work — serving and protecting women, children and gender diverse people and providing much-needed housing — continues.”

Actions Atira has taken to date include:

• Established a Board Task Force to oversee the hiring of a third party to undertake a comprehensive and independent review of its policies and practices, including how it makes decisions on real estate matters and deals with conflicts of interest
• Meeting with BC Housing leadership
• Committed to being fully supportive of the upcoming KPMG-led financial and operational review
• Agreed to include a representative from the B.C. Government as an observer on its Board of Directors
• Returned $1,908,172 in surplus funds for the fiscal year 2021/22 to BC Housing

Ms. Roome is the founder and CEO of Pulse Technologies, previously served as President and CEO of Technical Safety BC, and is active on a number of boards including: Prospera Credit Union, McElhanney Engineering & Geomatics Company BC Hydro and is the first female chair of PowerEx. She has a certification as an Institute of Corporate Director (ICD.D) from ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program.

Media contact:
Tyler Pronyk
604-807-0710
media@atira.bc.ca