Third Act, First Scene - Deputy Executive Director, CHFT
Some months ago, I announced I was ready for my "third act." On December 31, 2022, I left my law practice clearing the decks for new work.*
And now, dear readers, I am pleased to announce where that will be!
I have been hired as the Deputy Executive Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT). CHFT is an umbrella organization of 185 non-profit housing co-ops** in Durham, Toronto, and York Region representing more than 50,000 co-op members. The news of my appointment hit the housing world on Tuesday and I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from members and from others in the housing sector. Thank you for making me feel appreciated and for assuring me I’m not the only one who thinks this is a logical next step for me. I couldn’t be happier.
Why CHFT? Well, as I’ve written before, one of the biggest rewards of my legal career was helping co-opers with legal issues, including figuring out how to live harmoniously in their communities in increasingly tough times. Co-op members, staff, and sector supporters were so welcoming to me, an outsider, and worse, a lawyer(!). We made such a connection they’ve invited me into the inner tent. I’m excited because I will be working not just to help resolve legal problems, but on some of the more positive aspects of co-operative living. I’m joining at a time when the need for more co-ops has never been greater and when there is political will and money available to do some development again for the first time in decades.
I’ll start my new job in early March on a 3 day/week basis, working with Tom Clement, its long-time Executive Director, and the team of committed and highly capable staff. I know all the staff and have collaborated with many on client projects over the years. Tom, in particular, is someone I’ve worked with closely in our respective professional roles, but more than that - he’s someone who’s been a good friend and mentor to me for over a decade now. I’m confident those ties will only grow in our new relationship.
Taking new roles in my mid-50s takes me back to some of the growing pains I had in my late 30s when I started to practise law - my second act. I loved learning the ropes at Iler Campbell, developing rapport with staff and clients, understanding how different non-profit and co-op sector organizations fit together, uncovering the politics, honing my communication skills to pass along legal advice in an accessible way, and learning how law could meet the sector’s needs.
But it felt like starting grade 9: when you’ve climbed the ladder to grade 8 in elementary school, it’s a comedown to start at the bottom rung again. That’s what articling and junior lawyering felt like - I knew I knew some stuff, but I also knew there were a whole bunch of other things I didn’t know. And then there were the unknown unknowns. It felt like I should just magically know everything because of my time on the planet, but alas, there’s no way around learning other than learning.
And guess what - that’s going to happen now again! Sure, with 17 years of connection to the housing co-op world with a client base that overlaps the CHFT membership, nearly two decades more of management experience, and working regularly with many of the CHFT staff, I have a huge leg up. But there will still be times when we will all undoubtedly think “wow, I am clued out!” and then I’ll think “And I hate that feeling!” I’ll have no choice but to push through those moments, knowing somehow, I’ll find my way to feeling confident again. I know it, because I did it 17 years ago.
I also know it because reinvention is in my DNA. In his mid-40s, my father built an airplane in the basement of our house; he built it on weekends and evenings, his full-time gig being a 200 acre dairy farm. At 57, he retired from farming to go full-time as an instrument maker. Until that time, he’d fooled around building a few violins and a cello or two, but hadn’t really pushed his craft to their limits. By his death 20 years later, he’d made 158 violins, violas, cellos and double-basses, sold to players around the world, as well as several harps, a lute, and a harpsichord. My mother still receives royalty cheques for the book he wrote in his early 70s, called “So you want to make a Double-Bass;” he hadn’t written anything other than the credit union board minutes since he left school at 16. Like me, dad didn’t believe our brains and resumes are full by the time we turn 30. He knew that if you’re not learning, you’re stagnating. And he never looked back. His interest in farming was eclipsed fully by airplanes (although he had to hang on for a few years on the farm to earn a living), and then that was replaced by instruments.
So with the memory of my dad and my own history of switching it up lighting the way, I’m heading down this new path. Can’t wait!
* I began the process of reinvention when I was appointed last summer as a part-time member of the Condominium Authority Tribunal, an online dispute resolution body for condominium corporations and condo owners. It’s only a few hours each week and so I’m still looking to round out my workweek with another gig. If you have any ideas, I’m all ears!
** Co-op housing is a model of housing in which the housing is owned by a non-profit corporation and the people who live there elect their own board of directors to govern and to oversee staff who deal with the day-to-day management.
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