The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) today announced the appointment of Janice Barresi as Executive Director of the OSEG Charitable Foundation. The Foundation’s mandate will be to support amateur youth sport initiatives throughout the Ottawa/Gatineau region and increase youth participation in sport.

“Janice Barresi is one of Ottawa’s best known and most experienced fundraisers,” said Roger Greenberg, OSEG’sExecutiveChair and Managing Partner. “Her passion for developing and leading campaigns to improve lives is contagious and she is known for her ability to make an excellent case for support to business leaders. That’s a powerful combination of skills which will enable the OSEG Charitable Foundation to do great things for our community.”

Barresi joins the Foundation from TD Bank where she served as Community Relations and Marketing Director. In that capacity, Barresi worked closely with community groups and charitable organizations to enable TD to achieve its social responsibility goals within the National Capital Region. Prior to joining TD, Barresi served as the founding Executive Director of the Youth Service Bureau of Ottawa Charitable Foundation for its first five years of operation. She also served as Executive Director of Christie Lake Kids and worked with other non-profit organizations such as Pinecrest-Queensway Health and Community Services and the Children’s Bridge Foundation.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to establish and grow the OSEG Charitable Foundation,” said Barresi. “In three short years of operation, OSEG sports teams, TDPlace and Lansdowne have had a tremendous, positive impact on our community and the OSEG Charitable Foundation will leverage those assets to engage youth and start them on the road to a lifetime of healthy living. The Ottawa/Gatineau region has already embraced the REDBLACKS and the Lansdowne experience and now, through the Foundation, we can embrace back to help our youth develop into strong, confident and contributing adults.”

The OSEG Charitable Foundation will operate as a stand-alone, not for profit entity. It will leverage its arms-length relationship with OSEG to involve players, coaches and executive staff in community activities, events and programs designed achieve Foundation objectives. The first priority for the Foundation’s Executive Director is to further define the Foundation’s scope, develop near-term and long-term objectives and oversee the management of programs and activities to achieve them. More information on the Foundation will be available at a future date.