In her new role as CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, Natalie Spooner said she has two main priorities as the organization shifts its strategic focus during a time of high costs and high demand from the community.
In a press release Tuesday, the organization said Spooner, who had been acting as interim CEO since January, was selected by the board of directors to provide “values-driven leadership.”
“We undertook a comprehensive and diligent recruitment process spanning the entire country to identify a strong and diverse candidate, representing both non-profit and private sectors,” said board chair John Ariyo in the release.
“Natalie brings a steady and tenacious leadership that reflects and advances our unwavering commitment to the organization, its network, and the community it serves. We are eager to continue working together to tackle food insecurity in Ottawa.”
In an interview with OBJ last week, Spooner said that when she came to Ottawa from Ireland in 2005, she volunteered to gain local experience. But soon her work in the non-profit sector turned into a career.
Fifteen years ago, she joined the Ottawa Food Bank and has been there ever since.
“It’s just that sense of engagement, the sense of purpose, the sense of even focus as well,” she said. “When I landed here, I was like, ‘This is it.’ This is where I feel like the community spirit in Ottawa is just asking for us to be engaged. It’s asking for you to join in, to be involved. And I was like, ‘Yeah, this is it for me.’”
Before taking on the CEO role, Spooner was the organization’s director of programs and planning. In that capacity, she said she was responsible for working with the food bank’s 67 member agencies, which include other food banks and kitchens across the city as well as community partners, to strengthen programming and respond to changing needs.
It’s experience that she said she’ll be pulling from extensively as the Ottawa Food Bank shifts its strategic approach.
“It reinforced what it means to work in partnership, because we don’t have any ownership of our network. We’re membership-based, so all the work we do is collaborative,” she said.
“We’re at this point of reimagining food banking and that’s where I get to bring the lens of our network to what reimagining these systems means. We know what we do well, we know what works. So how do we make sure that we commit to that and at the same time rethink what access to a food bank looks like so that, regardless of where you are or what your situation is, you can get the supports you need?”
According to Spooner, local food banks are seeing record usage, with no relief in sight. With the high cost of living, she said up to one in four people are currently accessing food banks, where one in 15 used to be the average. The same costs have also put a significant dent in the budgets of food banks while donations have stagnated, forcing charities to do more with less.
Under her leadership, Spooner said the organization has two main priorities: responding to rising needs and costs while still providing high-quality services; and advocating for policy changes that will reduce the need for people to visit food banks in the first place.
“Going forward, I’m hoping to be really intentional and focused so that people can see what our direction is, what our purpose is, and bring people along. If you want to go far, then you should go together. If you want to go fast, just go alone. I’m much more for let’s go far together, even if it takes a bit more time.”
Spooner said she’s honoured to step into the role of CEO full-time and excited to get to work.
“The sense of trust that’s involved in taking on a CEO role, specifically for an organization like the Ottawa Food Bank, is significant,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been given this trust to make things better, to be responsive and show up for our community. That’s given me this privilege to sit in the role.”
Other people on the move
Steve Lounsbury has joined the team at Downpay, a split payment app designed for Shopify merchants. Lounsbury, who left his role as head of technology at ReturnBear in April, previously spent nearly 10 years as a senior developer at Shopify, working alongside Downpay co-founder and CEO Diana Birsan. In a LinkedIn post last week, Birsan said she and Lounsbury built Shopify’s prepaid subscriptions system while working together on its order team. Birsan said they’ll be collaborating again “to build one of the most ambitious new products together.” She added that 75 per cent of Downpay’s team members are Shopify alumni.
Rogers Centre Ottawa announced this month that it is making strategic changes to its sales team. Karen Wiersma, who has been with the organization since 2017, will take on a new role in international convention sales. Previously the senior account manager for national conventions, Wiersma will now be responsible for building relationships with international clients and industry partners to position Ottawa as a meetings and conventions destination. Krynn Wrigley, who has been account manager of local sales since joining the organization in 2022, has also been promoted. Wrigley will be taking on a new role as account manager of convention sales in the Canadian National Association market.
