Image: Chilliwack Community Services / Former Chilliwack city council and school board trustee Diane Janzen, who previously served as executive director of Chilliwack Community Services and later as CAO of Sqwá First Nation in Chilliwack, will become the executive director of Agassiz-Harrison Community Services Society next month. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Diane Janzen

Former Chilliwack councillor, school trustee accepts executive position in Agassiz

May 13, 2024 | 9:57 AM

CHILLIWACK — Diane Janzen has worn many hats during her remarkable time in Chilliwack, including roles as an elected official on both the Chilliwack Board of Education and Chilliwack City Council as well as executive positions in the non-profit sector.

One of those senior leadership roles involved an 8-year stint as executive director of Chilliwack Community Services that saw her guide the non-profit through the lead-up to its biggest project in nearly a century, the Paramount Building project, and oversee programming that impacted over 10,000 residents in Chilliwack.

Janzen’s current role as chief administrative officer at Sqwá First Nation in Chilliwack will wrap up soon as she becomes the next executive director of Agassiz-Harrison Community Services Society effective June 10.

“On behalf of the Board Members of Agassiz-Harrison Community Services, it gives me great pleasure to announce that effective June 10th of this year, Diane Janzen will be joining AHCSS as our new Executive Director,” AHCSS board chair Tom Walker wrote. “Diane Janzen brings more than 30 years of management and non-profit experience to the role of Executive Director at AHCSS. She served as Executive Director of Chilliwack Community Services for many years, leading a committed group of staff and delivering 36 programs to more than 12,000 people in areas ranging from early years to youth, families, food security, seniors, housing and immigrant services.”

Janzen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and sociology and a Master of Arts degree in educational leadership and management. In the news release from board chair Tom Walker, Janzen said she looks forward to working with the committed staff and volunteers at AHCSS.

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“Agassiz-Harrison Community Services has a long history of delivering services to children, youth, families and seniors in the Agassiz Harrison area,” Janzen said. “I am looking forward to working with an exemplary Board, staff and volunteers and building on the remarkable successes of the agency. It is ideally positioned to build on its success because of its solid financial management and program excellence, paving the way for expansion of its services into areas like housing where there is such a need.”

Janzen will seek to leverage the previous success she had at Chilliwack Community Services where she earned plaudits from the past board chair.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to work with Diane Janzen, Executive Director of Chilliwack Community Services for the last 8 years,” board president and Chilliwack attorney Luke Zacharias wrote in December 2022. “Diane has done an incredible job in her role as Executive Director.”

Janzen led the organization as it grew to a dedicated staff of 107 employees and 500 volunteers in 2022, Zacharias said, pinpointing the organization’s incredible reach in which it administers 39 programs that serve more than 12,500 people every year in Chilliwack.

“We have been strongly supported by the community, donors, sponsors and funders and as a result of their support, we are in a solid financial position,” Zacharias wrote on social media in 2022. “CCS is also in the process of constructing the Paramount Project, the largest project in CCS history, dedicated to affordable housing for seniors and young adults. CCS owes our success to its staff, and we are committed to supporting and investing in their growth and development.”