Premier Robert Ghiz today announced that Mr. David MacKenzie, the outgoing CEO of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, will assume the leadership responsibilities for the upcoming 2014 celebration of the 150th anniversary of the historic meeting of the Fathers of Confederation.
“We are delighted that a person of David's background and skills has agreed to take on this important role,” said the Premier. “We believe that 2014 will be an important and special year not only for Islanders, but Canadians alike as we build towards 2017 which will mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of Canada.”
Mr. MacKenzie has served as the CEO of the Confederation Centre for the past 10 years. Prior to that he served as the founding Executive Director of the PEI Capital Commission which focussed on developing and celebrating the Birthplace theme. He also managed the highly successful Atlantic Canada House at the recent 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He has been an active industry leader having served on the PEI Tourism Advisory Council, the City of Charlottetown’s Task Force on Arts & Culture, the Canadian Arts Summit and the Board of Directors for Tourism Charlottetown.
The Premier added, “To have a successful 150th celebration requires planning, vision and execution. It also requires being able to mobilize all of the key partners including the federal government, the community and industry to work together towards this goal. I look forward to working with others to make 2014 a special year as a lead up to 2017.”
MacKenzie will begin his new assignment in early August. His early priorities will be to work closely with various levels of Government to draft a vision framework and business plan for the 150th celebrations. “We need to ensure 2014 fits into a broader national celebration leading to 2017 and to hear from Islanders about a shared plan for this celebration,” MacKenzie said. Following work with federal partners, Government will begin an extensive public engagement in the planning of the 2014 celebrations.