Newly elected Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) president, Christopher Samuda, has promised changes when he fully assumes office.
Samuda, who defeated Vishu Tolan 20-16 for the JOA leadership at the association's annual general meeting at the JOA headquarters, 9 Cunningham Avenue, yesterday evening, said these alterations will be aimed at making Jamaica an "exemplar" of the Olympic movement.
"The election is over, and I got the vote of confidence for the office. It's a new dawn, but we will build on the institutional integrity of which the JOA is known. There will be changes but in the interest of sports and those changes will be seamless," he said.
Samuda, who was general secretary to former president to Mike Fennell, who held the presidency for 40 years, said the association would be moving forward in unity for the continued growth of the organisation and the country's sports.
"I want to thank the members of the board, those who supported me, and those who did not support me. I want to thank the member associations, those who supported and those who did not.
Movement Now Unified
The movement is now unified and we will move towards our goal as a team, and we will ensure that the Olympic movement not only grows meteorically in Jamaica, but is an exemplar to other Olympic movement," he said.
Samuda, in his manifesto, said that he wanted to build a successful organisation through a strong and viable corporate governance structure and he intended to achieve this by affirming the JOA's board of directors as the primary policy making body for members and strengthen the board's secretariat as the implementation arm of the board of directors.
He also stressed transparency and enforcing the obligation of directors and staff members to make full disclosure, to declare conflicts of interest, to observe confidentiality, and to be professional in conduct.