The municipality has hired long-time Tourism Whistler employee Michele Comeau Thompson as its new manager of communications and community engagement for its 2010 Office.
“It’s an important time for Whistler to harness and celebrate so many great things about our community,” she said this week. “This role can really help to facilitate the working together element and inspire people to get involved in the Games whether it’s as a volunteer, as a business, as an athlete, as a spectator.”
The time is ripe, she added, for this role, which was newly created by the municipality.
With so much planning now complete by so many organizations involved in the Games, it’s time to share the information with the community.
“Now is the time when we’re entering into a phase where there will be a lot more news to share about so many of the project areas and so I think it’s a really key time for people to start to get a lot more engaged,” said Comeau Thompson.
“People are starting to get really hungry for information and so the time is really prime right now for that.”
Expect to see more information made public soon, she said, around the transportation plans, accommodation, the volunteer program and the Live Site plan for the village.
Comeau Thompson begins her role at municipal hall on Oct. 1. She was hired and will be reporting to the general manager of economic viability, Diane Mombourquette, who also moved from Tourism Whistler to the municipality earlier this year.
In her previous role at Tourism Whistler as director of communications Comeau Thompson was primarily responsible for working with destination media, building awareness of Whistler through TV shows, travel articles and newspaper articles in an increasingly competitive market.
Most of the work she has done to date with the Olympic Games has involved special projects, such as the flag passing from Torino.
“Those types of opportunities provided great media opportunities for Whistler,” she said.
Comeau Thompson was with Tourism Whistler for seven years.
