Meet our Governance Champions:
Kevan McBeth, Board Vice-Chair
What’s your full time job?
I am the Co-Founder of Affective Consulting, a boutique HR Consulting firm aimed at building people-centred workplaces.
How long have you been on the COR board for?
I believe this will be my 4th year on the board.
How did you first get involved with COR?
I first got involved with COR through the development of the 4 to 40 initiative. I was working for SaskTel at the time, and we had just started our own supported employment program and Michael and Faith were looking for a corporate partner to work with in the development of a supported employment program that matched the goals and objectives of COR and Campus For All.
“As I got to know more about COR and the COR family, it was something that I wanted to be a part of, so I joined the board and have enjoyed being a part of the COR journey ever since.”
What are your skills and passion as they relate to being on the COR board?
Well for starters, I am a parent of a child with a disability – my daughter, Lauryn, was born with Down Syndrome, so COR was a place that made me realize some of the potentials that exist for people with disabilities when you look beyond what we typically think is the standard for supports for people with disabilities and their families.
Secondly, was my passion for supported employment and my experience in the human resources and diversity field, for which I have worked in the field of for over 20 years. It was learning about supported employment through being involved in the Down Syndrome community that made me push organizations in the province to consider inclusion as a valuable part of their HR plans.
How does your full time job help in your role as a board member?
I left the corporate world about 5 years ago and started my own consulting and training organization focused on people-centred HR approaches and Servant Leadership philosophy (Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader’s main focus is the thriving of their company or organizations). I would say that a lot of the work that we do in my day job translates directly to the kind of work that is being done at COR.
“I want to help make a difference for COR employees and the families that COR supports. It’s an amazing organization that is constantly pushing the envelope of what’s possible when you put people first. That’s a really exciting thing to be a part of.”
What’s the most rewarding part about being on the board?
I think for me, the most rewarding part of being on the board is watching some of the programming and the activities that the COR team brings to life through the eyes of my daughter, who has been to a number of COR activities and events before COVID hit – going to art classes at the COR Studio, being a part of the dance lessons – doing things in the community with community partners in a way that feels seamlessly inclusive and natural. I get a chance to see the full “life cycle” of the vision that the COR team has from concept to implementation. That’s pretty cool!
What do you tell people about COR that don’t know anything about the organization?
I tell them that this is a really special organization with incredible people and amazing vision for what’s possible when we put the needs of people ahead of everything else. It’s a place where what we all imagine could be possible is actually happening, and I am really proud to be a part of it all.
