McBrine and Payne added to U SPORTS Board of Directors

Matt McBrine and Dr. Geoff Payne were named to the U SPORTS Board of Directors at the association’s annual general meeting, held on June 5 at the Blue Mountain Resort.

McBrine, who has been the director of athletics at Bishop’s University since 2016, becomes the athletic director representative for Quebec. He replaces Geoffrey Philips of McGill, who had served on the board since 2021.

Payne, who was named president of the University of Northern British Columbia in 2022, culminating a career at the Prince George institution that dates to 2004, will be the president representative from Canada West, replacing Dr. David Docherty of Brandon, who served since 2023.

In addition to the two new members, Dr. Graham Carr of Concordia (President/RSEQ), Ben Matchett of Calgary (Athletic Director/CW), Scott McRoberts of Guelph (Athletic Director/OUA), Dr. Karen Murphy from Memorial University of Newfoundland (Athletic Director/AUS), Dr. Steven Murphy of Ontario Tech (President/OUA), John Olfert (member-at-large), and Dr. Denis Prud’homme of Moncton (President/AUS), will continue their service on the board for 2025-26.

In other business, the membership approved the extension of the probationary period for the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi for one year. UQAC re-entered U SPORTS on a probationary basis at the 2023 meeting in Montebello, Quebec.

The meeting capped a week of seminars and workshops for all 58 U SPORTS members, including a keynote presentation from Dr. Peter Jensen of Third Factor and discussions of ways to enhance the future of university sport in Canada.

The next U SPORTS Conference and Annual Meeting is set for June 2026 in St. John’s, N.L.