The Canada West Universities Athletics Association recently announced that university athletics will return this fall. And when it does, the University of Saskatchewan (USask) will have a new chief athletics officer, as Shannon Chinn will be taking over the role from Dave Hardy who decided to step down.
“I have about 20 years experience crossing across professional sports and university sports,” Chinn said. “So I’ve worked in game day productions, sport development, sponsorship, community relations across several teams.”
Chinn was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is also a former student-athlete having played basketball at the University of Ottawa.
“I have a lot of experience working with coaches and athletes in the past so I’m hoping some of that experience along with what I’ve seen in the professional sports world will help really take Huskie Athletics to the next level,” she said.
“She’s worked in a number of professional and amateur sports organizations,” added Chad London, dean of the USask College of Kinesiology.
“Really if you look at her performance and the performance of those organizations, she has shown that she has the ability to lead successfully.”
Chinn also has years of experience in a number of sports. Working with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Ottawa Senators, Carleton University and she is also an elected Football Canada board member.
“The university has really set this role up to be successful across campus and with the community,” Chinn added. “You know they have really showed the commitment to Huskie Athletics, right from the president’s office down.”
“I think one of the hallmarks of the (USask) is that community connection,” added London. “She knows Saskatchewan and how important sport is to us.”
Chinn will take over as the chief athletics officer on June 15.