HHS grad Katie Ungard a new Vice President of World YWCA

Katie Ungard, a graduate of Huntsville High School, was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the World YWCA as one of the organization’s six Vice Presidents. She is one of two Canadians on the 20-member Board that has representatives from 18 countries.

Ungard grew up in Muskoka and headed for University of Guelph after graduating from Huntsville High School, but returned for a YWCA Muskoka internship in 2010. She couldn’t have foreseen where it would lead her.

As an intern, she undertook a community-based research project on Women and the Environment, surveying and meeting with women from across the District of Muskoka. The culmination of her work was Fairly Foul, a 20-minute documentary co-produced with filmmaker Virginia Hasting which premiered at Muskoka’s second Women in Film Festival.

When her internship was complete, Ungard continued to work with the YWCA and was nominated to the YWCA Canada Board.

“Beth Ward was the Executive Director (of YWCA Muskoka) at that time. She encouraged me to participate at a higher level.” After successfully being elected to the YWCA Canada Board, she sat as one of two Vice Chairs and was involved in numerous committees including chair of the YWCA Canada International Cooperation Committee, a member of Young Women Leadership miles fund committee, and the board HR committee. Ungard also co-chaired the communications committee for the Young Women’s Engagement Taskforce and co-chaired the communications and programming committee for the first North American and Caribbean Young Women’s Leadership Conference in 2013 in Bridgetown, Barbados.

At the same time, she completed a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from York University. Ungard now works for Pollution Probe as a project manager.

The YWCA offers a lot of opportunities to build self-esteem and skills, but also leadership. What I’ve found is it has been an incredibly supportive network that has only grown the longer I’ve been involved. It’s really the reason that I am where I am today.

In her governance role with World YWCA, she is excited about two things in particular: “There is another woman from Canada – Jamie Medicine Craine – on the Board with me. She was on the Board of YWCA Canada when I started and was also a really great mentor so it’s pretty exciting to both be on the board together,” she said. “I am also stepping in to the position of co-chair of fund development, looking at ways to build financial sustainability for the organization and really engage supporters in new and interesting ways. It will be fairly involved but it’s exciting – it’s at a scale that I haven’t worked at up until now.”

When asked what makes the YWCA an important organization, she said: “I find it unique in the sense that that it’s on local, national, and international levels. It’s really responsive and really able to adapt to what’s happening on the ground in the community. I think it’s really important for people in the grassroots to be able to create programs and do the advocacy that works for them, but still be part of a larger movement that supports them and allows them to be flexible enough to be effective on a local level. And then the YWCA Canada nationally and internationally support that work and advocate for policies and social changes that support women and girls across Canada (and around the world).”

Current YWCA Muskoka executive director Hannah Lin said in a release, “We are very proud of and excited for Katie in her new role. It’s particularly exciting to see young women in top leadership roles throughout our movement as the World YWCA has launched its goal to engage 100 million young women by 2035. She is inspiring the generations coming behind her.”

And to those generations, Katie had to say, “The YWCA offers a lot of opportunities to build self-esteem and skills, but also leadership. What I’ve found is it has been an incredibly supportive network that has only grown the longer I’ve been involved. It’s really the reason that I am where I am today.”