Tracy Bray introduced Steve Cook. Executive Director for the Belleville General Hospital Foundation and a great addition to the Rotary Club of Belleville. Tracy enthusiastically mentioned that Steve will be at Camp Merrywood early in May with the rest of the work team.
Steve Cook moved to the Belleville area five years ago with his wife Melissa and feels fortunate to be in the role he is with the BGH Foundation. He comes from a global sport environment in the U.K. before moving into the healthcare sector. He was brought up in the northwest part of England, a coastal town where his parents were involved in the hotel/tourism business and where Steve learned to love the outdoors. He also was a huge soccer fan growing up, very involved in sports and was lucky to attend two great universities, Leeds and Lancaster. In Great Britain Steve was Head of Corporate Partnerships for St. Luke's Cheshire Hospital. In this role he planned, delivered and managed donor development and major gifts, a perfect platform to his current role here in Quinte Healthcare. Prior to his tenure at Hospice, he was the Commercial Director at Wrexham Football Club, working on sponsorships, corporate partnerships, season ticket sales, program sales and advertising and customer experience strategy. Before this, he was the Regional Sales Manager for England and Scotland for Sodexo, working on partnerships with The Open Championship. The networking and marketing opportunities are just some of the skills he transferred to his current position. Steve developed an entrepreneurial spirit and through a personal health scare, he became aware of how to raise money and to bring growth in raising funds here locally. All efforts by him and his team at the Foundation are for the betterment of the community and healthcare here and in the region. Steve thanked everyone for their support of him as a Rotarian as well as the ongoing support of the Hospital Foundation.
Sam Brady thanked Steve for his investment in our community, for building a successful team and developing huge growth in fundraising for the benefit of all.