Ann has had a long involvement with the sport of artistic swimming, beginning as an athlete in her youth and then as a parent to two daughters who competed as national stream athletes with Pacific Wave Synchronized Swim Club and who are now both coaching in the sport. Her volunteer activities in artistic swimming have included serving as a club treasurer, as a meet volunteer (including at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George) and as a Level 1 judge. All of these experiences, together with watching her daughters and their teammates develop into confident and capable young women thanks to their participation in artistic swimming, inspired me to contribute towards promoting the accessibility, growth and excellence of the sport at all levels.

Ann is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA) and has held senior financial management roles mainly in the forest products industry with MacMillan Bloedel, Weyerhaeuser, Cascadia Forest Products and Western Forest Products, and with BC Hydro. Her focus has been in the areas of accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, and reporting. In addition, she has participated in a number of large-scale financial systems implementation and business transformation projects. As a volunteer, Ann served as a director of Pacific Wave Synchro for eight years (2011 – 2019), primarily in the role of treasurer, and recently joined Canada Artistic Swimming’s Finance Committee. Other recent volunteer roles include serving as Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair for The University Women’s Club of Vancouver (2016 – 2018) and, she currently sits on their Constitution and Bylaws Committee.

Over the course of my education, whether it has been science, or my legal studies at UBC, I’ve always tried to remain cognizant of my place within the grand scheme of things. Having one eye on the horizon meant that I was able to successfully redirect my efforts from medical school or academia into law school when the former options became unappealing. I’m grateful for this habit of mine, as it has paid off numerous times. More importantly, it has made me into the resilient person I am today.

When I set my sights on law school as an ultimate goal, I sought out governance experience around me, and was chosen from a group of my peers to lead the Science Students’ Council (SSC) at the University of Western Ontario. During my tenure at the SSC, I sat and presided over all council meetings in accordance with Robert’s Rules, chaired significant ad-hoc committees to improve Council’s representative proportionality and accountability to the benefit of council, future councillors, and the Faculty of Science-at-large. As I once again set my eyes on the horizon, I now dream of a career in Finance, Corporate Governance, and Politics as potential ultimate ambitions of mine. To that end, serving on BC Artistic Swimming’s Board of Directors would allow me to serve my community through a meaningful and impactful organization, while gaining exposure to a sophisticated organizational structure and its various stakeholders. In many ways, I’d like to repeat history. Thank you for your time and consideration.

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“I believe that values-based sport makes a difference.”

ATHLETE: Speed skating was my first passion – my father believed that every Canadian kid needs to be able to skate and he thought speed skating was cool so that is where my love of sport began. I competed for many years and was a top ranked athlete in my province but the pressure at a young age to compete and train at a high-performance level was too much pressure for me by the age of 11. Being in a position to make big life decisions turned me off the sport I loved. I played ringette and basketball for many years until I found soccer when I was 16. It seemed to come naturally to me and quickly became my everything. Unfortunately, I blew out my knee just before the start of my first season in university and due to complications with the ensuing surgeries was unable to keep playing at more than a rec level. It was at that point that I discovered that if I was no longer able to play at a high level, I could focus my career in sport.

CAREER: After earning my degree in business and a post-graduate diploma in sports administration, I started working in the NHL for the Ottawa Senators. Glamorous as it sounds, I found I had little interest because it was just big business. I was happy to learn that early and quickly redirected my focus to community sport. My first job in community sport was as a Discipline Administrator in soccer – handing out suspensions and fines was about 95% of my job! Fortunately, my career took off and I have had some incredible experience with Soccer New Brunswick, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and the True Sport Foundation.

SPORT PHILOSOPHY: As a young person, sport gave me so much. It was my outlet. It’s where I didn’t have to think about anything else that was going on in my life. I was lucky to have some great coaches who were excellent role models and a positive influence on me. I believe that every kid needs role models and the opportunity to do things they love – a place where they feel confident in their abilities and proud of their accomplishments. Community sport can be that for many kids. It is why I believe in values-based sport. I want to help make a difference in kids’ lives through sport because it was an important part of my life and helped shape who I am today.

PRIORITIES: Bringing Club Excellence to BCAS and to our clubs is a key priority for me to help us manage our organizations better. If we have the proper foundation in place at all levels of the sport, we will be able to spend more time focusing on the athletes in the pool, which is what we all hope to accomplish. I’m pretty certain that none of us got into this for the paper work but know that we end up buried in it because of gaps in our operations and governance structures. I hope to help BCAS and its member clubs to bridge these gaps.

ARTISTIC SWIMMING IN BC: There is so much passion in the BC artistic swimming community and a real desire to work collaboratively to make things better, which is fantastic. That does not happen very often in competitive sport. The board is committed to operating as a governance board and have created a wonderful framework for the staff to ensure that we have the resources and support to do our jobs. This is so important at the PSO level.

FUN FACTS: When I was 9 years old, I presented flowers to the amazing Gaetan Boucher and other world class skaters during the 1982 World Speed Skating Championships. Also, outside of BCAS, people call me Niff or JK. That seems not to have stuck here.

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Disa Fladmark joined the BCAS staff in August 2019 to fill the role of Sport Services Coordinator. She is a long-standing member of the association bringing experience as an athlete, coach, official, and administrator.

Disa began her artistic swimming career in the mid 90’s when she joined her first competitive team, working her way up to the senior level where she swam a senior solo with the Coquitlam Coralinas. Having coached her first recreational team in 1999, she has been coaching for more than 20 years working with athletes of all levels and abilities. Disa has led her teams to many podium performances at provincial championships and nurtured athletes to success at national competitions. She has also continued her journey as an athlete competing in Masters’ events since 2001 and became a Level 2 trained judge in 2018.

Disa is a certified Competition Development coach and recently completed her Advanced Coaching Diploma with the Canadian Sport Institute. She completed her Masters in Professional Communication in 2015 receiving recognition for research challenging the current framework of sports in Canada and the limitations it places on the female athlete.

In recent years, Disa has been heavily involved with BC Artistic Swimming serving on the Adaptive Synchro, Sport Development and Masters’ Committees, coaching in the Train to Train and Regional Coach programs, facilitating Annual Summit sessions and membership meetings, and most recently serving on the Board of Directors. In 2018, Disa resigned from her position as the Provincial Office Manager of the BC Summer Swimming Association, where she managed its operations and events such as the annual coaches conference and provincial championships.

BCAS Executive Director noted: “Disa brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this new role. We are fortunate to have her join our team and to take on a role that was previously divided among two part-time staff. She is taking on a lot of responsibility, but I have every confidence that she will manage her new responsibilities with tenacity and vigour.”

In her role as Sport Services Coordinator, Disa is responsible for executing all provincial events and competitions as well as supporting the membership with registration, and coordinating coach, official and athlete development initiatives and programs.