Athletics Canada announced today that Michele Krech and John Reid have joined the Commissioner’s Office.
A Canadian lawyer and former track and field athlete, Michele Krech is currently conducting doctoral research at New York University (NYU) School of Law, where she studies and teaches on the subject of global sport governance reform, particularly initiatives aimed at advancing gender equality. She recently participated in a selective training program offered by Court of Arbitration for Sport, and has also served as a legal consultant in a case before that Court. She comes to the Commissioners’ Office with a strong background in dispute resolution, including clerkships at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the International Court of Justice, as well as experience in high performance sport as an athlete, club board member and team support staff member.
John was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 39 years, retiring with the rank of Superintendent. John is also a lawyer and was the Director of the RCMP’s Adjudications Branch. During his career he ran the national witness protection program and worked in commercial crime. His diverse background that includes complex investigations in white collar crime and internal affairs, to managing a national witness protection program, to Director and Chairman of internal discipline and performance boards will be an asset to the Office. He has been a member of the Board of Directors with the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada for six years and is currently the Referee-In-Chief for minor hockey of Hockey Eastern Ontario.
The first of its kind in a national sport organization, the Commissioner’s Office was created in 2015 dedicated to resolving complaints independently from Athletics Canada. The Commissioners are not employees of Athletics Canada, they have been selected by the organization to act independently in the sole function relating to complain resolution. Commissioners are selected based on their knowledge of sport, experience in law or dispute resolution, mediation or arbitration.
Complaints can be made about code of conduct issues, athlete agreements, eligibility, carding or national team selection.
For more on the Commissioners’ Office please visit www.athletics.local/safesport.
