Introducing: Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni

Western's two athletic alumni chapters, The W Club and the Women's Athletic Alumnae (WAA), formally voted at their Annual General Meeting last Saturday (May 2) to unify as one organization of Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni.
 
"Bringing together both the W Club and the WAA will provide huge benefits not only to our alumni, but also to our current scholar-athletes," said Therese Quigley, director of Sport and Recreation Services and herself a Mustangs Athletic alumna. "Combining the resources, expertise, and passion of these two groups will allow us to expand our engagement efforts with alumni around the world, and also enhance the student-athlete experience."
 
For years the Mustangs have had two alumni groups, the W Club representing male athletic alumni and the WAA representing the women. The W Club was actually the first recognized chapter of the University’s Alumni Association, founded in 1957, while the WAA formed in 1987. While the two organizations have traditionally operated as separate entities, although they worked together on various initiatives, the board and executive members of both groups determined that they could do more as one organization and have been working diligently for more than a year to make this transition.
 
In a joint statement, W Club and WAA presidents Guy Zink and Mary Riezebos said that "We are delighted to be involved with the movement toward the significant and historic union of the WAA and the W Club.
 
"Separately our organizations have worked effectively over many years in support of Western Athletics and Athletic Alumni events. The union and strategic planning within a new organization will allow us to combine our resources and our passion as Mustangs, to continue our work and to expand our initiatives. 
 
"We look forward to an exciting and challenging year ahead, working together with the Alumni Association, Alumni Relations and Athletics to continue our traditions, set new courses and extend our engagement with our athletic alumni."
 
The change was made official with a vote from both group's membership at their respective Annual General Meetings, which was held together at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 2nd in the Labatt Lounge at TD Stadium. The first official board meeting of the new Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni will take place June 2nd, 2015, where the executive will get to work on many ideas discussed at a strategic planning session with a diverse range of athletic alumni represented back in January.

The strategic priorities call for greater engagement of the talents of the athletic alumni community and the formation of working committees, primarily around the themes of: Executive and Governance, Traditions, Communities, Events & Programming, and Sport-Specific Liaisons. Interested athletic alumni can contact Guy Zink (guyzink@gmail.com) or Mary Riezebos (m.riezebos@rogers.com), or Alumni Relations via Gareth Cunningham (gcunning@uwo.ca).