Julia Rivard

Last updated

Julia (Rivard) Dexter (born September 17, 1976) is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Rivard and her teammates finished ninth in the K-4 500 m event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She has since become an entrepreneur in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has held several positions in Canadian Olympic sports, Government Stewardship and the Arts and Culture community.

Contents

Sporting career

Born and raised in North Bay, Ontario, Rivard was a successful multisport athlete, especially as an alpine skier and swimmer. At one time she was ranked in the top ten in Canada in the 200m backstroke and 800m freestyle. She started her canoe-kayak career at the relatively late age of 19. [1] She moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia shortly afterward to pursue her training. She was a member of the Canadian national kayak team for three years.

Rivard's career highlights include a fourth-place finish in women's K-4 500m at the 1998 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. In the 2000 World Cup events, she and her teammates won a pair of bronze medals, and also had a fourth- and sixth-place finish. Her competitive career concluded with a ninth-place finish [2] in the K-4 500 m event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Rivard is a member of the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame [3] and the 2000 North Bay Female Athlete of the Year.

Education

While still a national team athlete, Rivard completed a Bachelor of Recreation Administration degree at Dalhousie University in 2000. In 2003, she completed her Bachelor of Graphic Design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University). She continues to pursue education in the field of communication with a specific interest in Semiotics and its application in international relations.

Business

After graduation, Rivard founded an incubation center for independent creatives called Queen Street Studios [4] [5] in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Queen Street Studios was a new business of the year finalist at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce's 2008 Halifax Business Awards, and was named one of the top ten Nova Scotia startups by the Nova Scotia Business Journal. In 2006 Rivard was nominated for the Globe and Mail's Top 40 Under 40.

In 2008, Queen Street Studios merged with a successful web development firm called Norex.ca, a company that was founded in 1999 by Matt Rudderham, Farlan Dowell, & Brandon Kolybaba, taking on the position of Creative Director. Under Julia's leadership, developer Chris Troup led the Norex team in developing a medal counter widget for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The widget had over 3 million downloads during the games and was among the most successful Apple / Mac downloads during that period. Later, Norex designed a similar results application [6] for the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships held in Dartmouth. The Norex group of companies was named the eighth fastest-growing company in Atlantic Canada by Progress Magazine in 2009, the sixth fastest-growing in 2010, [7] and the second fastest-growing in 2011. [8] Since then Norex re-branded to Code + Mortar [9] and Julia currently sits on the board.

Rivard was also a partner in Norex's sister company SheepDogInc.ca, Canada's first and most successful Google partner. In March 2010, SheepDogInc.ca was one of only 40 partner companies to deploy a Google App, application called gTrax, in the launch of the Google Apps Marketplace. Rivard was brought in as Chief Executive Officer at SheepDogInc.ca and remained in that position until she sold her interest in the company in 2013.

In February 2020, Julia was elected as a member of the Board at Nova Scotia Power. Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

Sport and community leadership

Since 2002 Rivard has continued her involvement in sports as a volunteer. She started at CanoeKayak Canada as an athlete's representative on the Sprint High-Performance Committee, and then moved on to the Executive Committee as Vice Chair of Athlete Relations. She was Vice Chair of Marketing and a member of the CanoeKayak Canada Board of Directors for 13 years. She is a past Board member of Sport Nova Scotia and the Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic. She is currently a member-at-large (B Member) of the Canadian Olympic Committee. In an operational role, Rivard has been to both the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver as a Team Services Officer on the Canadian Mission Team. In that role she managed team operations at both Games.

In 2008, Rivard accepted an appointment to the Board of Directors for the 2011 Canada Winter Games [10] which were held in Halifax. [11]

Since 2011 Rivard has served as an alumni representative on the NSCADU Board of Governors. [12] In 2013 Julia was appointed to the position of the Vice-Chair of the NSCAD Board of Governors and throughout her term lead the strategic visioning and planning process.

In 2012, Rivard was selected as a member of the Manitoba study group for the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference. [13]

In February 2013, Rivard was one of 41 Canadian Olympic builders honoured with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. These individuals were selected for their contributions "work[ing] tirelessly behind the scenes to advance sports excellence in Canada." [14]

In 2014 Julia was presented with the BMO Award for Global Growth and Innovation and was selected as a Finalist for Halifax Business Person of the Year.

Family

Rivard has four children. [15] Julia is married to Steven Earle Dexter of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NSCAD University</span> Public art school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The university also provides continuing education services through its School of Extended Studies.

Stephen Giles is a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won the bronze in the C-1 1000 m event at Sydney in 2000.

Karen Furneaux is a Canadian sprint kayaker who has been competing since 1988. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, she won nine medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. This includes two golds, three silvers, and four bronzes.

Michael "Mike" Scarola is a Canadian sprint canoer and marathon canoeist who competed in the early 2000s. He won a bronze medal in the C-2 1000 m event at the 2002 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Seville, Spain and also won a silver medal in C-2 at the ICF World Marathon Canoe Kayak Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 2000. Mike finished sixth in the C-2 1000 m event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He was a member of Canada's Senior National Sprint Canoe Kayak Team for 7 years.

Garry Neill Kennedy, was a Canadian conceptual artist and educator from Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the mid-1970s, he created works that investigated the processes and materials of painting. In the first decade of the 2000s, he expanded his work to investigate art and its social, institutional, and political framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Gallery of Nova Scotia</span> Art museum in Nova Scotia, Canada

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately 6,200 square metres (67,000 sq ft) of space. The museum complex comprises the former Dominion building and two floors of the adjacent Provincial building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aileen Meagher</span>

Aileen Aletha Meagher was a Canadian athlete who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics, sharing bronze in the 4×100 metres event. She was also a painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Halifax, Nova Scotia</span>

Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the largest urban population in Atlantic Canada, is a major sporting centre.

Susan Holloway is a Canadian retired cross-country skier and sprint canoeist. In 1976, Holloway became the first woman and first Canadian to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in the same year, competing in cross-country skiing at the winter games in Innsbruck and in canoe sprint at the summer games in Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships</span> ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships 2009 in Nova Scotia

The 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 12–16 August 2009 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Lake Banook. The competition was organized by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). The Canadian city was selected to host the championships in October 2003 after having done so previously in 1997. Final preparations were made after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with competition format changed for the first time since the 2001 championships. Four exhibition events for both paddleability and women's canoe were added. Sponsorship was local within the province of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional Municipality. Media coverage was provided from Canada, Europe and the United States on the Internet, television and mobile phone. 669 canoeists from 68 nations participated at the championships themselves.

Thomas Hall, is an Olympic sprint canoeist from Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada. Training with the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, he began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. By the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At the Beijing Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark de Jonge</span> Canadian sprint canoeist

Mark de Jonge is a Canadian male sprint canoeist, primarily specializing the 200 m kayak event. De Jonge won a bronze medal in the K-1 200 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He is the two time reigning world champion in same event having also won a silver medal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2013. He is also the current Pan American champion in the 200 having won gold in Toronto at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where he also won an additional bronze, and a silver and bronze at previous editions of the Pan Am Games. He was named the Air Canada Athlete of the Year in 2015 for Canada.

Don Brien is a Canadian sprint canoer, who competed in the mid to late 1980s. He won a bronze medal with partner Colin Shaw in the K-2 1000 m at the 1985 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships at Mechelen.

Ann Dodge is a Canadian sprint kayaker who competed in the mid-1970s.

Mihai Apostol is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed from the early-1990s to the early 2000s. Apostol was born in Romania, but defected to Canada with two teammates while attending the 1989 world junior paddling championship in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was 18 years old at the time. After defecting, Apostol took up residence in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and adapted well to life in Canada by making the Canadian National Kayak team in 1991 and moving from Halifax to Vancouver to join the rest of the team. In Vancouver, supporting himself and without the financial help that most of his teammates received from their families, Mihai worked part-time while attending college and trained full-time with the National Team.

Adrienne Power is a Canadian sprinter, who specialized in the 200 metres. She won two bronze medals for both the 200 metres and 4×400-metre relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

Michelle Russell is a Canadian sprint kayaker.

Alanna Bray-Lougheed is a Canadian sprint kayaker. She is the current Pan American Games champion in the women's K-2 500 m with Andréanne Langlois, as well as in the K-4 500 metres with Langlois, Anna Negulic, and Alexa Irvin. Bray-Lougheed was selected by the RBC Training Ground program, an elite Olympic athlete training and identification program for Canada, and joined the Canadian national team in 2015. She competed in the 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, her first World Championships, and made the A Final in the K-2 1,000 m, finishing sixth.

Sophia Jensen is a Canadian sprint canoeist. She has been a member of the Canoe Kayak Canada sprint national team since 2017. Jensen is considered to be an important figure in women's sprint canoe worldwide and, in 2019, she was named National Female Athlete of the Year at the Sports Québec annual gala.

Sloan MacKenzie is a Canadian sprint canoeist. MacKenzie is a multiple time World Championships medallist.

References

  1. ↑ Canoe.ca - 2000 Olympic profile for Julia Rivard [usurped]
  2. ↑ Sports-reference.com Profile - Julia Rivard
  3. ↑ North Bay Sports Hall of Fame Inductee - Julia Rivard
  4. ↑ "National Post 2008-04-04 - Former Olympian Jumps Business Hurdles". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  5. ↑ "Progress Magazine profile - Julia Rivard". Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  6. ↑ International Canoe Federation 7 August 2009 - "ICF Canoe Sprint Championships going mobile"
  7. ↑ "Progress Magazine fastest-growing companies in Atlantic Canada 2010, #6 Norex.ca". Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
  8. ↑ "Progress Magazine fastest-growing companies in Atlantic Canada 2011". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  9. ↑ Codeandmortar.com
  10. ↑ "2011 Canada Winter Games Host Society". Archived from the original on 2011-08-08. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  11. ↑ "2011 Canada Winter Games Legacy Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  12. ↑ "NSCADU Board of Governors". Archived from the original on 2012-05-07. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  13. ↑ 2012 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference
  14. ↑ COC Announcement of Diamond Jubilee Medal winners Archived 2013-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Halifax Chronicle Herald 2012-March-05 - SheepDog President puts the Busy in Business
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.