June 30, 2022
Dear St.Amant Staff & Families,
I’m pleased to have this opportunity, to thank John Leggat, on the day of his retirement from St.Amant.
John held the role of President & CEO for the past ten years. When John arrived at St.Amant he immediately embarked on a listening mission. His goal was to meet and talk with as many staff as he could, from new staff to long-timers, from frontline to executive leaders, he wanted to hear from everyone. He also wanted to hear from the people supported by St.Amant and their families, and took great care to create forums to make this happen and to visit people we support on a regular basis.
Shortly after John arrived, the Board launched a strategic planning process and with John’s guidance, the organization ensured there were opportunities to meet and hear from as many stakeholders as possible. It was through these activities that people started to get to know John Leggat, who we all know as a pretty likeable person. He’s friendly, easy to talk to and genuinely curious about people’s experiences. Through John’s leadership style, the culture at St.Amant began to shift to one that is open, collaborative and transparent. And as the internal culture began to shift, so did the external view of the organization; to one that is generous and collaborative.
John grew St.Amant’s trusted reputation and helped improve how the disability community works together by sharing information, advocating together, and building a solid network that works together on shared goals. St.Amant has helped build and strengthen the success of Abilities Manitoba and has been a key partner in the leadership and execution of the Disability Matters Vote campaigns – these are pivotal and monumental achievements for the disability community, that have made a difference in the lives of people we support and our staff.
Within St.Amant, John championed transformational strategic work, building buy-in, motivation and passion within all staff & stakeholders. John’s commitment to people and human rights is evidenced by the brave decisions he’s made and his willingness to make and support hard decisions: moving people from long-term care to community, changing the service delivery model for autism programs, changing how we support children residentially, closing day services and challenging us to look for new and innovative solutions to meet unmet needs.
John is a compassionate leader, who has truly lived the values of the organization and through his leadership and the hard work of everyone at St.Amant, achieved incredible goals, culminating in the official designation change.
John worked hard to earn the respect of his team and stakeholders. The Board has been impressed by his accomplishments and benefitted from the wealth and breadth of knowledge about the disability sector that he brought to the role. We hope that, as John begins to enjoy his retirement, he looks back at his ten years at St.Amant with an immense amount of pride. John’s leadership changed lives – not just for the people St.Amant supports, but for their families, the disability community in our Province, and for his team.
Thank you, John, for your dedicated and unwavering leadership, and we wish you all the very best.
The St.Amant team put together a little tribute video to John. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/XDBiwezMQH8.
Wishing you all a great long weekend,
Ken
Ken Kustra
St.Amant Board Chair