Athletics Canada CEO David Bedford retires over inappropriate tweets
Chief operating officer Mathieu Gentès will step in as acting CEO
David Bedford has retired as CEO of Athletics Canada, it was announced Wednesday evening, in the wake of the discovery of sexually inappropriate social media activity by Bedford dating back several months.
Athletics Canada CEO facing scrutiny for inappropriate tweets
A short time before the official announcement, Bedford posted on his Facebook account that he been planning to retire this year. The announcement says the two parties agreed that he would retire immediately, with chief operating officer Mathieu Gentès taking on the additional temporary role of acting CEO.
Athletics Canada is the national governing body for athletics, representing the interests of thousands of athletes. In recent years it has grappled with crises involving sexual harassment or abuse of athletes by its coaches, including the firing and lifetime coaching ban of Dave Scott-Thomas, former head coach at the University of Guelph, in 2020.
In a Tuesday report by CBC Sports, Bedford defended the activity as harmless and intended to be humorous.
Bedford’s personal Twitter account, which was the source of the now-deleted replies to sexually suggestive tweets from multiple accounts, previously identified him as the CEO of Athletics Canada; it now reads “Billsfully [sic] RETIRED.”
Interim CEO Gentès has been with the organization since 2005 and has been COO since 2016. Board chair Helen Manning said in a press release issued Wednesday evening: “The board is very comfortable that the Executive Leadership team will work together to maintain business as usual for our members, associates, stakeholders and partners.”
Bedford lives in Calgary.
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