August 16, 2019
Shirley Labossière knows it’s the culture at St.Amant that brings back former employees who left to develop new skills; she herself once worked in 1-East supporting people. Fifteen years ago, after years of experience in healthcare and finance, Shirley returned to St.Amant to become vice president. She has guided St.Amant’s major organizational changes and growth and continues to do so almost two months into her role as Acting President & CEO.
“Acting President and CEO, was totally unexpected, it’s not something that I was striving to do. I think this is a really exciting opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to working with my team and working with the board, and trying something for a year while John (Leggat) is seconded to work for the Department of Families,” said Shirley.
St.Amant will continue to be guided by their strategic plan and annual objectives that are set every year. The focus will continue to be on advocating for the people that St.Amant supports and meeting unmet needs in the community.
“John and I always had the same ultimate goals and intentions, so I think it’s not going to feel a whole lot different than it would have if John had still been here.”
Collaboration has been key for St.Amant’s success over the past sixty years and that will continue on with Shirley in this new role. St.Amant has always appreciated feedback from the people we support, their families, and from our staff. The strong partnerships St.Amant has with their funders allows them to do the good work that they do.
“I’m very proud of the mindful approach that we have been using, and the fact that we use both a person-centered and a family-centered approach here. When I hear personal stories about families and the impact that we’ve made in their lives in any and all of our programs, whether it’s an email or it’s a family that shares their story, I think that’s what’s really meaningful.”
When she’s not guiding St.Amant’s major projects, she’s spending time with her four dogs or training for her next marathon. Shirley has spent a lot of time fostering and adopting dogs since her children moved out. She has also run 29 full marathons and has plans for a thirtieth in the not too distant future. Running is a big part of what makes her happy and she finds it meditative.
“I also really appreciate being out in nature, whether it’s camping or just going for a walk in the park, just, I’m having that mindful moment.”