‘Hockey mom’ Katherine Henderson is eager to take on the challenge as Hockey Canada’s new leader

Katherine Henderson understands challenges ahead as Hockey Canada’s new president and CEO, but says she’s ready to seize the moment and take the organization in a new direction through her experience in business, sports and years of hockey mom.

Henderson’s appointment was announced Tuesday. She has been CEO of Curling Canada for the past seven years.

“I can’t comment on what’s going on in Hockey [Canada] right now, but I know I’m going to a place with a really good and dedicated board,” she told CBC Sports. “I have a very long personal experience with hockey that has continued throughout my life as a pretty intense hockey mom.

“I’ve spent four or five nights a week at the Don Montgomery Arena watching the Scarborough Ice Raiders. It’s also brought a lot of joy into my life. So I’m really excited about where I’m going.”

Hockey Canada has been under heavy scrutiny for over a year over a number of issues. Restoring and rebuilding faith in a Canadian institution and pastime is now Henderson’s challenge and she is not shying away from it.

“I am really looking forward to working with the board and looking forward to working with the stakeholders and sponsors,” she said. “They have member associations that are very similar to curling, so that would be great. We can talk later when we see the impact I’m making there.”

A lot of prominent sports leaders across the country took to social media this week to congratulate and compliment Henderson on her new role and say she’s a perfect fit for the job.

“It’s disheartening when people say that,” she said. “I’m really excited about where I’m going. I’ve now had the opportunity to meet some of the senior staff. They’re impressive people and it’s a wonderful sport.”

Hockey Canada has made significant changes since last summer, including the resignation of its president and CEO, board of directors and interim chairman. The national sports body was under fire for months over its handling of sexual assault allegations.

For weeks, headlines about the toxic hockey culture that existed in this country led to the federal government and sponsors withdrawing funding. Just hours after Henderson was hired, Bauer re-established the partnership with Hockey Canada.

Henderson is no stranger to controversy and adversity. In her time with Curling Canada, she has weathered a number of storms, including Canadian curlers taking the podium in the four-person game for the first time at the 2018 Olympics.

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Questions have since arisen about Canada’s place in the curling world and Henderson has held himself accountable for answering them. She recently initiated a high-performance review to see how curlers from this country can outperform.

Henderson also led Curling Canada through the pandemic, effectively pulling off Briers and Scotties in a bubble in Calgary. And most notably, in 2019, Henderson brought pay equality to the men’s and women’s national championships. Gender equality in sports and investing in women’s sports is a priority for Henderson as she moves to Hockey Canada.

“This is a shoutout to anyone considering investing in women’s sport. I can tell you as an executive that it works and it pays off,” said Henderson. “I’ve been a female executive and I’ve worked with a lot of great people. But I’ve certainly felt for many, many years that my access to certain positions of power or certain economic benefits…I’ve had to work very, very hard for that .”

Henderson has held regular symposiums on women in sports and says he understands that sports leaders in this country, particularly in curling and hockey, need to do more to bring in more diverse communities.

“There’s so much more to do from a lens of sport for everyone. That’s really important because I realize there are big differences in terms of access to sport and in terms of treatment in sport,” she said.

Henderson says listening to the athlete’s voice is more important now than ever, perhaps learning from a recent issue in curling related to limiting pregnancy waivers, a decision that was reversed after a number of curlers spoke out.

“Thank you to all the athletes who have ever reached out and are involved,” she said. “And I will say in curling, there are a lot of incredibly insightful, thoughtful athletes who can give me perspective.

“I think having a lot of perspective brings you to better decisions. I think it’s also been really important to get them to listen to each other because it creates a kind of collective voice that’s an all-encompassing voice rather than one voice. I think that we have to do things one way because it benefits a part of the sport.”

Henderson will stay on as CEO of Curling Canada until the end of August. That national sporting body has undergone massive changes in recent months, including the hiring of two-time world champion David Murdoch as the new high-performance director.

“It’s going to be critical to get this right,” Henderson said. “I will be there to tell them what I know and where the sport is going in the future and what needs to be done. The board members will be the ones who will ultimately do the search, and they will have to choose a person who will will get them where they need to go.

“I’ll tell you of all my past seven years of working with curling. It has a tremendously bright future.”