Board Elects Dr. Jean Fraser New A-DES Chair

Board elects Jean Fraser new A-DES Chair
Dr. Jean Fraser, who first began her work with A-DES in the mid-‘80s, was chosen as the new Board Chair on Tuesday, June 16, at the agency’s 57th Annual General Meeting.

She succeeds Gary Greer, who stepped down after three years at helm but remains on the Board as the immediate Past President.

Dr. Fraser is an educator by training, a former teacher and school administrator who was recently executive director of the Coquitlam Heritage Society. She is leaving there this summer to return to teaching at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Fraser helped devise the Making Decisions school curriculum now in use for grades 4-9 by school districts across the province. She has also conducted dozens of A-DES workshops, including Parents As Preventors and seminars that help train professionals about substance abuse and prevention. She was elected to the Board in 2008.

Greer, a retired Deputy Chief Constable with the Vancouver Police Department, handed the reins to Fraser at The Gathering Place in Port Coquitlam where A-DES’ annual meeting was held. Besides electing her as Chair, members in attendance also approved a change in the charitable society’s by-laws that will allow Board members to serve longer than three years.

Besides Greer, two other Board members were re-elected to new, three-year terms: Craig Beliveau, Board treasurer, and Dr. Bill McMichael, President of Collingwood Neighbourhood House. Both are longtime members of the A-DES Board of Directors.

One new Board member was elected: Lee anne Hanson, wife of A-DES Communications Director Jay Niver. Hanson, a psychologist and counsellor, is an addictions specialist who has worked with mental-health programs on three continents. She currently works with Chilliwack Addictions and Prevention Services.

The A-DES Board traditionally recesses in summer, but will likely hold a planning session some time before reconvening in September.