Debra Gassewitz

President & Chief Executive Officer

Debra Gassewitz is the President and Chief Executive Officer of SIRC Sport Research.

For the past ten years she has grown the SIRC organization into the world’s most highly respected international sport research centre. This passion comes from her belief in the importance of sharing information and her strong interest in using sport to advance education and equally using education to advance sport. She has accomplished this by using technology to share and promote qualified sport information.

A highly sought after international public speaker, she helps sport knowledge workers to disseminate relevant material to their membership while maximizing technology and respecting copyright. Ms Gassewitz has established SIRC as the leading sport research centre in the world, used by coaches, researchers and physicians in over 50 countries. She is also a professor of sport management and an executive member with numerous international sport associations.

Prior to joining SIRC, she was a coach for over 19 years, actively involved in political and corporate research, and directed Corel Corporations global sales team and multi-million dollar advertising campaigns.

David Roberts

Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer

David Roberts is the Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer of SIRC, with the responsibility of overseeing SIRC's operations.

Joining SIRC in 1999, David established both an in-house Finance Department and a Human Resources Department, which he continues to direct. David is instrumental in the design and implementation of SIRC's internal database systems including membership, library catalog, finance, user interface and content control engine supporting the SIRC website.

David also led the team responsible for creating the Canadian Sport Database, a collection of over 70,000 references targeted to benefit the Canadian sporting community, as well as creating the online version of the SIRCThesaurus.

David has been heavily involved in the sports industry, most notably as a key member of the finance department for the Coaching Association of Canada.

David's passion for sport led him to become an international and provincial badminton champion in Men's and Mixed Doubles.

Nancy Rebel

Nancy Rebel is the Director of Library Services at SIRC. Nancy is responsible for content management of SIRC’s collection and its catalog database design.

Joining SIRC in 1993, Nancy has contributed to, and currently directs, the management of quality document analysis, description, cataloging and indexing.

In her years at SIRC Nancy has been responsible for: the content submissions for the world-renowned SportDiscus database; aiding in the coordination of in-house and international terminology submissions and organizational structure of SIRCs internationally recognized SIRCThesaurus as Editor; and the design and content for SIRC’s first website and virtual resource centre, SPORTQuest, assuming the editorial and content manager role during its initial years.

In a previous tenure with the Secretariat for Fitness in the Third Age, Nancy's responsibilities included the clarification, maintenance and ongoing development of their Clearinghouse Resource Data Bank.

Nancy's commitment to community and sport has led her to volunteer with her local soccer, skating and curling clubs, and with national and international sporting events.