Katie Sheahan

In 2003, Katie Sheahan, BA 78, returned to her alma mater to become director of Concordia's Department of Recreation and Athletics.

Under her leadership, campus recreation offers more than 50 intramural and recreational activities for thousands of students, staff, alumni and the public, while more than 300 student athletes participate in its outstanding varsity sports program.

Katie helped oversee the first phase of a long-term project to develop both the outdoor and indoor Loyola Campus recreation and athletics facilities. Plans are underway to extend and renovate the aging 1967 Sports Complex and build a permanent stadium, with construction slated to get underway this year.

As well, the first-rate Concordia University Fitness Centre, Le Gym, which opened its doors on the Sir George Williams Campus in 2007, provides extensive fitness classes and the most modern exercise equipment to more than 7,500 students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Leading up to her Concordia appointment in 2003, Katie was a community partner who sat on the steering committee of Recreation and Athletics' Future Search conference, which invited interested individuals to propose recommendations on enhancements for the department.

Before Concordia, she spent more than 20 years at the YMCA, where she eventually became executive director of the Montreal branch and oversaw the successful downtown YMCA re-development project. She also chairs the Board of Directors of the Elizabeth House Foundation and is a past president of the Rotary Club of Montreal. Katie holds a BA in sociology from Concordia and a Master's in Management (Voluntary Sector Leaders) from the McConnell Masters' program of McGill University.