Headquarters Team
Twenty students make sure every Open Ice chapter across Canada and Ontario runs to the Open Ice standard, and they run our flagship camps in Toronto. They work alongside the founder and an adult administration team, under a volunteer board of directors. None of the students is paid.
How Open Ice is led
Board of Directors
Volunteer board of directors
A volunteer board of directors oversees Open Ice Initiative Inc. as a whole. Directors are not paid, and the board is accountable for every dollar the organization receives.
Founder and President
Andrew Adair
Andrew Adair founded Open Ice Initiative in 2025 as a Grade 10 student at Upper Canada College. He leads the organization day to day, working with the Headquarters Team and the administration team.
Anything that commits money or the organization's name goes through the Founder and President.
Administration Team
Adult administration team
Adults work alongside the founder on the administration team. Open Ice Initiative Inc. holds the contracts, the insurance and the money, so students never sign an agreement or hold funds themselves.
Headquarters Team
The Headquarters Team
The twenty-member Headquarters Team works alongside the founder and the administration team, under the volunteer board. It has two responsibilities.
- 01Every chapter, to the Open Ice standard
Each Open Ice chapter across Ontario runs its camp the way our own camps run: a full camp week, about twelve hours of ice, professional coaching, food every day, equipment every child keeps, and families chosen by financial need.
- 02The flagship camps in Toronto
Christmas, March Break and summer camps at Toronto arenas, planned, staffed and run by the Headquarters Team with professional coaching.
What the Headquarters Team does
Six jobs at every camp, from the first family reached to the last piece of gear handed over.
Recruitment
Each member of the Headquarters Team carries an individual target of two to three families, reaching out through roughly thirty Toronto community groups.
Equipment
Sizing, procurement, fitting and the Keep Your Gear handout.
Logistics
Ice bookings, transport, lunches, waivers and the day-of running of each camp.
Partnerships
Sponsor outreach, impact reporting and renewals.
Media and communications
Media day, press, social and the newsletter.
On-ice support
Trained volunteers working under the coaching staff.
The departments
Who does what, and who they answer to
The Headquarters Team is organized in nine departments. Each one owns its own decisions, and every department lead reports to the Founder and President.
Hover or tab to anybody and the board narrows to them and the person they report to. Filter by department to see one team at a time. A small dot beside a name marks a department lead.
Leadership
2 membersSets direction, signs the partnerships, and carries the thing when it is heavy.
Sponsorship and Funding
2 membersFinds the money. Without this department there is no ice and no gear.
Programs and Events
2 membersDecides what actually happens at camp, hour by hour.
Coaching
2 membersOn the ice with the campers. The part everybody remembers.
Equipment
1 memberSizing, procurement, fitting, and the Keep Your Gear handout on the Friday.
Logistics and Operations
2 membersIce bookings, transport, lunches, waivers, and the running of each day.
Marketing and Promotion
2 membersMedia day, press, social, and how a family finds out we exist.
Expansion
2 membersThe next arena, the next neighbourhood, the next city.
Technology
2 membersThis website, the application system, and everything that has to work without anyone watching.
Every member of the Headquarters Team is a student. Nobody on it is paid, and nobody on it has ever been paid. Enquiries reach all of us through one address: openiceinitiative@gmail.com.
A growing network
From Toronto to every chapter
Open Ice is expanding across Ontario. The Headquarters Team runs the flagship camps in Toronto and, as new student-led chapters open, makes sure each one runs to the same standard, with a member of the team as its Chapter Liaison.
Applications for new chapters open in November 2026, with the first chapter camps planned from July 2027.
Everyone grows with Open Ice
Joining Open Ice is service, and it is also an education in running something real. Here is what our students take away.
The Headquarters Team
Members of the twenty-member Headquarters Team run Open Ice as the real organization it is. They manage budgets and sponsorship, book ice, plan logistics, build partnerships with companies and community groups, run media days and speak in public on behalf of the organization.
These are real business skills: management, organization, budgeting, communication, public speaking and leadership, learned by doing them for a cause that matters. Students who join the Headquarters Team grow into confident, capable leaders.
The volunteers
Camp volunteers are Program Assistants. Each one leads a small house group of campers through the day, under professional coaching: on the ice, at lunch and in the closing circle.
They learn to lead, to communicate clearly with children and families, to stay calm when a plan changes and to work as one team. Their hours count toward the community service every Ontario student needs to graduate.
The campers
Every camper who joins Open Ice has never played hockey before. Over one camp they learn to skate with confidence, stop, handle a puck, pass and play as a team, coached by professionals and grouped by ability from the first morning.
Just as important, they learn that they belong in a rink. They make friends, cheer for each other, and take on daily challenges built around courage, teamwork, resilience and leadership. They leave with real skills, new friendships and a full set of equipment to keep playing.
Questions
About the Headquarters Team
What is the Headquarters Team?
The twenty-member student team at the centre of Open Ice. It makes sure every Open Ice chapter across Canada and Ontario runs to the Open Ice standard, and it runs the flagship camps in Toronto.
Who oversees it?
The Headquarters Team works alongside the founder, Andrew Adair, and an adult administration team. A volunteer board of directors oversees the organization as a whole.
Is anyone on the team paid?
No. There are no salaries, no honoraria and no expenses claimed by any member of the Headquarters Team.
How does the team support a chapter?
A member of the Headquarters Team serves as each chapter's Chapter Liaison, from application to the last whistle of camp, alongside training, a camp playbook and pooled gear purchasing.
How do I join?
Headquarters Team roles and camp volunteer roles both open ahead of each cycle. Volunteering at a camp is the usual route in.