Meet the Team
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Karen O'Neill
Chief Executive Officer
A well-respected senior executive in Canada’s sport community with extensive experience in several leadership roles, Karen O’Neill has been the CEO of the Canadian Paralympic Committee since June 2013.
Under Karen’s guidance, CPC has grown immensely over the past several years. The organization has increased in size and scope across all areas, advancing Para sport in Canada while galvanizing its reputation as a leader nationally and internationally.
A conscientious and tireless advocate for creating an inclusive sport environment, Karen sits on a number of groups where she shares her voice and experience and works to better the sport community in this country, including the True Sport Foundation, which supports values based sport, the Canadian Sport Policy (CSP) Renewal Working Group, and the Universal Code of Conduct to prevent and address maltreatment in sport (UCCMS) Leadership Group. She has also been a leading voice for safe sport in Canada. Internationally, she is member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Women in Sport committee.
In 2018, she was named Sports Media Canada’s Executive of the Year following Canada’s most successful Paralympic Winter Games yet in PyeongChang.
Prior to joining CPC, she served as CEO of Field Hockey Canada from 2009 to 2013 and as Chief Operating Officer of the Rick Hansen Foundation from 2004 to 2009, where she oversaw a period of rapid growth and innovation. She also was CEO of Commonwealth Games Canada from 1997 to 2004, leading the strategy for the Kuala Lumpur 1998 and Manchester 2002 Games.
She also served as director general of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association from 1989 to 1992 and chef de mission of the Canadian Paralympic Team for Atlanta 1996.
Originally from Halifax, she holds a master’s degree in education from McGill University and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Concordia University.
Catherine
Gosselin-DesprésChief Sport Officer
Catherine Gosselin-Després leads the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s (CPC) Sport Department as the Chief Sport Officer and has been in the role since November 2013.
She is responsible for implementing CPC’s strategic and operational vision in the area of Paralympic Games preparation, planning, and delivery as well as for the whole area of Paralympic performance and pathway which includes classification, athlete ID and transfer, development of a sustainable Paralympic system, and overall relations of all national sport organizations (NSO).
Since her arrival, the overall CPC sport strategy has been completely revised and strengthened, leading to record results. A focus has been placed on working closely on the relationships with NSOs, proactively planning and preparing for the Games with four-year strategies, and the development of a sustainable system through the Paralympic pathway.
Catherine has been recognized as an influential member of the sport community in Canada, and a leader in Para sport on the international level.
In 2017, she won the prestigious 5 to Watch under 40 Sport Business Award from George Brown College. She has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Canada Games Council and Chair of the Sport Committee since September 2018. In 2019, she also became an International Paralympic Committee Agitos Foundation Organisational Capacity Programme Mentor for developing National Paralympic Committees within the Caribbean region.
Prior to joining CPC, Catherine held various roles at Synchro Canada from 2005 to 2013. She started as Sport Development Manager, became COO and then CEO starting in 2008. During her tenure, Catherine also had to assume interim roles to support the high-performance area. Prior to this she was program coordinator at Canoe Kayak Canada from 2001 to 2005.
Originally from Quebec City, Catherine has a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology specialized in high performance sport from Laval University. She also has a master’s degree in Sport Management from University of Ottawa.
She is bilingual in both of Canada’s official languages and efficient in Spanish.
Francois Robert
Chief Commercial Officer
As the Chief Commerical Officer, François Robert leads the corporate partnership team at the Canadian Paralympic Committee, which includes both servicing and strengthening relationships with current partners, and the recruitment of new sponsors and business. He joined the organization in January 2011.
Under his purview through the last number of years, CPC’s corporate partnership program has greatly grown and diversified, bringing more partners into the Paralympic fold and enhancing their involvement within our community to be truly engaged.
He also helped lead the creation of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada, the independent philanthropic arm of CPC which was officially founded in 2015. The Foundation, which remains under his portfolio, raises funds to support CPC in providing more Canadians with a disability the opportunity to participate in sport and strive for the world stage.
François brings a wealth of business development expertise from both amateur and professional sport, as well as a keen perspective from corporate Canada. Prior to joining the CPC team, he was a senior corporate account manager with Senators Sport and Entertainment for four years where he developed strategic sales and marketing plans, and led corporate partnerships for the 2009 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. He also has many years of marketing and management experience as the sales manager of Labatt Breweries Ontario.
François is bilingual and holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management.
Dean Brokop
Chief Philanthropic Officer & Executive Director of the Foundation
Dean Brokop is the Executive Director of the Paralympic Foundation of Canada and the Chief Philanthropic Officer of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. After spending close to three decades working in sport, philanthropy and special event production, Dean brings a passion to his role that has helped to inspire generous Canadians to contribute millions of dollars to support the creation of more opportunities for people with a disability to access and excel in sport.
Before joining the Canadian Paralympic Committee in 2014 and helping to found the Paralympic Foundation of Canada in 2015, Dean’s varied roles saw him work with organizations including the Fredericton Playhouse, Rick Hansen Foundation, Canadian Forces, BC Wheelchair Basketball Society, Canada Games and the Western Canada Summer Games.
