The Arctic Winter Games International Committee

President

John Flynn

Appointed 2014

John Flynn was born and raised in Dawson City, Yukon. He has participated in seven Arctic Winter Games as an athlete and coach beginning with the 1974 Games held in Anchorage, Alaska. John is a great resource to the Committee because of his experience as a participant and the volunteer roles he has played in rural Yukon. Mr. Flynn has been active in Dawson City and the Yukon as a sport volunteer for over thirty years. He manages a successful mining business and is a member of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. He resides in Dawson City with his wife, Jennifer.

jjflynn.awg@gmail.com

Vice-President/Treasurer

John Rodda

Appointed 1998

John Rodda’s career includes both public and private sector recreation management in Anchorage and Eagle River. From 1974 to 1997, he was involved in the development, construction and management of four indoor ice arenas; he has served on numerous youth and adult sports advisory commissions. A lifelong Alaskan, John has been an active participant, coach, and volunteer in the sports community since the early 60's. He has volunteer and leadership experience with various organizations including AWG Team Alaska, the Chugiak-Eagle River chamber of Commerce, Ice Skating Institute of America, and Rotary International. John has been involved with Arctic Winter Games since 1974, and was the Host Society President for the Eagle River Games in 1996. John's business experience and strong commitment to healthy youth and adult activities continues to benefit the Arctic Winter Games.

johnawg@gmail.com

International Director

Ian Legaree

Appointed 1990

Ian's involvement with the Arctic Winter Games began with NWT team selection trials in the Eastern Arctic in 1986. He served on mission staff in 1986 and 1988 and was on the 1990 Host Society Board of Directors in Yellowknife. He was first appointed to the International Committee in 1990 and has served as Technical Director since 1992. Ian is the Director of Sport, Recreation and Youth for the Government of the Northwest Territories. He has worked in the NWT and Nunavut for nearly 30 years in recreation, sport, community and leadership development and municipal affairs. During his tenure he has also played important roles in a wide range of other projects including the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games – Northwest Territories Program, the Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council and the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and Confederation College and is a certified Level 3 coach in swimming. His volunteer experience includes over twenty years of coaching and officiating in swimming including assignments at the Canada and North American Indigenous Games, Défi sportif, World Cup (Edmonton) and various national championships. He also works with the Yellowknife Community Foundation to assist with their charitable works in the north and in 2010 was the Chair of the Board of Inquiry for the NWT/Nunavut Registered Nurses Association. Ian and his wife Shawna Lampi-Legaree, artist and business owner, have three adult sons.

Secretary

Leigh Goldie

Appointed 2017

Leigh has been involved in sports all his life. He has played, coached, officiated and organized several sports from the local to the national level. Recently retired after a forty-year teaching career at Grande Prairie Regional College in the Physical Education, Athletics and Kinesiology department, he is still active in many sport organizations. He currently serves as President of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association as well as President of Volleyball Alberta. Leigh is also a Master Coach Developer with the National Coaching Certification Program multi-sport modules. He began his association with the Arctic Winter Games as a mission staff member for Northern Alberta in the 1988 Games in Fairbanks and in subsequent Games served as a volleyball coach and again as a mission staff member. For the 2010 Arctic Winter Games, he served on the Host Committee as co-director of the Care and Comfort committee. In addition to the Arctic Winter Games, he has been involved in various capacities with the Alberta Summer and Winter Games and the Canada Winter Games.

Director - Nunavut

Kyle Seeley

Appointed 2013

Kyle is the Director of Sport and Recreation for the Government of Nunavut, in this role his responsibilities include management of the territory’s sport, physical activity and recreation program and services. Kyle resides in Baker Lake, Nunavut. Prior to taking on the role of Director of Sport and Recreation, Kyle was Sport Nunavut’s- Manager of Sport Development. As Manager he was responsible for the coordination of Team Nunavut’s participation in all major games including the Arctic Winter Games, Canada Games, North American Indigenous Games, and Western Canada Summer Games. Kyle’s involvement with the Arctic Winter Games began with planning Team Nunavut’s team selection events in 2001. He has been involved in every set of Games since, performing either the role of Chef de Mission or Assistant Chef de Mission for Team Nunavut.

Director - Greenland

Karl Davidsen

Appointed 2018

Karl is a Head of Department at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and the Church in Greenland. He was born and raised in Ilulissat Greenland and has lived most of his adult life in Nuuk, Greenland. He has had various jobs in the public sector and began his association with the Arctic Winter Games during the preparations for the 2016 games in Nuuk. Karl's passions in sports include snowboarding and mountain biking, he also has some experience in cross-country skiing and alpine skiing.

Director - Alaska

John Estle

Appointed 2019

John grew up and lived in New England for 30 years before moving to Fairbanks in 1982 to assume the position of Head Coach for Cross Country Skiing and Cross Country Running at UA Fairbanks. He held that position from 1982 through 1990 before taking the position of Head Coach of the US Cross Country Ski Team, which he held from 1990-1993. He served as Program Director for the US Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Michigan in 1993-94. Returning to Fairbanks in 1994, he has built a business providing sport and business services, including organizing events, timing running races, coaching and bookkeeping. He is an International Ski Federation-certified Technical Delegate and Homologation Inspector for cross country skiing. He has attended the 1984, 1992 and 2002 Olympic Games as a coach or official but considers the Arctic Winter Games to be a more meaningful event because of the effect the AWG can have on the people and communities of the north – without all the hype involved in the Olympics. John’s association with the Games extends more than 30 years: he was a sport coordinator for Team Alaska for the 1988 Games, was Team Alaska Chef de Mission in 1996 and from 2000-2010, and served on the Host Society Board of Directors for the 2014 Games in Fairbanks. John and his wife Norma live 500m from the Birch Hill cross country ski trails and spend as much time as possible at their cabin in the Alaska Range

Director - Yukon

Marie Cairns

Appointed 2020

Marie is currently the Director of Sport and Recreation for the Yukon Government. Marie was born and raised in Whitehorse and grew up playing a variety of sports but found her passion was basketball. Her first experience with the Arctic Winter Games was at the 1988 Games in Fairbanks, AK. She went on to graduate from the University of Alberta with a degree in Physical Education. Marie’s experience with the Arctic Winter Games is extensive. It began as an athlete, but quickly evolved to other roles, including mission staff and key positions on the host societies for the 2000, 2012 and 2020 Arctic Winter Games held in Yukon.

Director - Alberta

Don Wilson

Appointed 2020

Don is presently the Director, Multisport Games for Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation branch within the Ministry of Culture. Previous positions included: Chief Executive Officer for Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton. Director of Athletics at the University of Calgary, General Manager of Swim Alberta, Director of Sport, Recreation & Culture for Fort McMurray and a professional swim coach. Over the past 40 years he has been involved in sport at all levels, participating at the provincial level, coaching at the national level and an administrator at 3 Olympics. He has a Bachelor of Physical Education and a Masters of Human Kinetics (Biomechanics). Don is married to Kim and has two adult children, Sarah and Connor.

Technical Coordinator

Lindsay Smith

Lindsay is an experienced sport event management professional who specializes in provincial/territorial, national and international multi-sport events. Lindsay has worked on multitude of Multi-Sport Games, including the Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games, the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Lindsay joined the AWG family in 2019 when she took on the role of Sport Coordinator for the Whitehorse 2020 Arctic Winter Games. Since then, Lindsay has transitioned into the role of Technical Coordinator for the AWGIC, working to ensure that all technical elements of the sport program are met and exceeded.

technical@arcticwintergames.org

Director - Northwest Territories

Gary Schauerte

Appointed April 2021

Gary Schauerte is the Director, Sport Recreation and Youth for the Government of the Northwest Territories and is responsible for leading the development and delivery of sport, recreation, youth and volunteer programming on behalf of the department. Within this role, Gary was appointed to the AWG International Committee in 2021. Prior to taking this role, Gary has previously worked with the GNWT as the Director of Corporate Affairs, and as the Manager, Sport and Recreation Programs. As the Manager, he supported Team NT participation at various games including AWG, Canada Games, North American Indigenous Games, and Western Canada Summer Games. Gary also attended the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics to support the Youth Ambassador Program, and Canada’s Northern House pavilion which showcased northern arts and culture. Gary and his wife Tina live in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and have two children Katherine and Matthew.

Director - Northwest Territories

Les Skinner

Appointed January 2021

Operations Coordinator

Moira Lassen

Moira is an experienced sport event management professional who specializes in national and international multi-sport and single sport events. Moira has worked at numerous multi-sport Games, including Olympic, Youth Olympic, Commonwealth, Commonwealth Youth, Pan American, Canada and Arctic Winter Games in a variety of roles. Moira has completed over fifty international missions as a Technical Official in sport of weightlifting and was the first woman ever elected to the International Weightlifting Federation. Currently, Moira resides on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council in Whitehorse, Yukon and holds the position of Ministerial Advisor in the Government of Yukon Cabinet offices.

operations@arcticwintergames.org