New chair elected to Loyalist board of governors

By Olivia Maeder

The new chair and vice-chairs of Loyalist College Board of Governors were elected for the 2013-2014 year at a meeting last week.

Tamara Kleinschmidt, Scott Williams and Colin Hughes were elected to senior positions on the board.

Kleinschmidt, the executive director of HUB Child and Family Centre in Picton, was elected Chair for the coming year and Williams and Hughes were elected as vice-chairs. They will be on the Loyalist College Board of Governors for the coming year starting in September. Kleinschmidt,Williams and Hughes last names have all had previous experience with being on other chairs or a part of other committees in their past years.

Kleinschmidt has been living in Belleville for the past seven years. With a busy life of raising three children and living in different places across Canada she has had many opportunities to be a part of committees and different communities.

“I have three children. My oldest daughter is 20; I have a 13-year-old son, and a 12-year-old daughter. It’s really nice to be stable after moving so many times. So I am appreciating that. said Tamara Kleinschmidt

She has been on the board of governors for four years. During the past couple of years, she served as Chair of the Finance, Corporate Services and Governance.

“It’s probably the best volunteer group I’ve ever been involved in. Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve been involved with different Military Family Resource Centres. Every time I move to a new place I look for volunteer opportunities. It’s one of the best ways to meet really nice people and get to know your community really quickly,” said Tamara Kleinschmidt.

With many years of education, Kleinschmidt has achieved a Bachelor of Arts/Political Science from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. She also has an Emergency Medical Care Assistant Certificate from the Ambulance and Emergency Care Program from Algonquin College. Kleinschmidt has been a part of Quinte region committees for quite some time. Kleinschmidt’s husband has been in the military for the past 25 years. Kleinschmidt has given much of her time towards supporting military families moving across Canada, as well as living in England giving her supportive towards military families and being a part of the communities she has lived in. Kleinschmidt is continuing being a part of committees, and will use her past experience to make a better College for the students and staff as she sits on chair.

One of the elected Vice-Chairs, Williams, has also had many past experiences being a part of committees. He has served as Chair before for the Academic, Student Affairs and Advocacy Committee for the past two years at Loyalist. Scott has a B.Sc. honours degree from Queens University and has a Masters of Education degree from the Ontario institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Williams is a published author of many readings such as books, magazines and papers on adult education and technology topics. Williams was elected to sit as Vice-Chair on the Loyalist Board of Governors and contribute any way he can.

Hughes was another Vice-Chair elected to represent Loyalist students this coming year on the Loyalist College. Hughes has been a part of committees in the past making him a good candidate to be on the board of Governors for Loyalist. Hughes works at R.C. Industrial Services Nappanee as a General Machinist/Health and Safety. Hughes has a background in health and safety, being certified as a health and safety representative. He has co-chaired Health and Safety committees for over 21 years. He has developed safety training programs and has taught health and safety awareness to employees.