‍TORONTO (October 17, 2024) – Canada Basketball and Denise Dignard, General Manager / Executive Vice-President, Women's High Performance, today announced her intention to retire on November 15^th, 2024, after over 26 years as an executive with the organization.

“Denise Dignard has been an integral member of the Canada Basketball team for more than a quarter century,” said Michael Bartlett, President & CEO of Canada Basketball. “From her tireless work building development programs for players and coaches to overseeing the vision, direction and operations of one of the top programs in international women’s basketball, she has been instrumental in growing the sport here in Canada.”

“On behalf of Canada Basketball, I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to Denise for her dedication, commitment, and passion for this organization and for basketball in Canada. I wish her nothing but the best in retirement, and I know she will continue to be a valuable advocate for the women’s game in this country and around the world.” Bartlett said.

During her tenure as an executive, Dignard helped lead Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team to a program best fourth ranking in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by NIKE. Under her guidance, the Canadian women excelled on the international stage, including a historic gold medal on home soil at the 2015 Pan Am Games and back-to-back FIBA Americas Women's Championships in 2015 and 2017.  The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team recently competed in their fourth consecutive Olympic Games, and their fourth-place finish at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 was their highest at the tournament since 1986.

“It has been the highest honour to serve our Canadian women’s high-performance program and lead the development of one of the world’s top international women’s basketball programs,” Dignard said.  “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the generations of women’s national team athletes for their tremendous dedication and long-term commitment to represent Canada over the years.  You have inspired me and an entire nation by what you have done and continue to do both on and off the court as role models and ambassadors.”

Originally from Port-Cartier, Quebec, Dignard joined Canada Basketball in April 1998 as Manager, Elite Programming, where she drew on her playing and coaching experience domestically, internationally and professionally, as well as her sports management experience, to benchmark top international programs and review the current state of women’s basketball infrastructure in Canada.  She also led the design and implementation of podium pathway programming, such as Centre for Performance in 2000, before being named Manager, Women’s Elite Performance in 2001. During her time with Canada Basketball, Dignard was instrumental in growing the women’s high-performance program, including developing the U17 and U19 age-group national teams, establishing the National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) in 2006 and 2008, launching the Targeted Athlete and Coach program.  NEDA saw the top 15-to-17-year-olds from across the country train and develop under the guidance of Canada Basketball curriculum and trained coaches. Over the years, Dignard committed to investing in Canadian coach development, including creating a “women in coaching” strategy and instituting a world-class sports science and medical program and performance analytics as critical components that helped the program gain competitive advantages.  

With a solid foundation of aligned, underlying programming and the support of basketball stakeholders across Canada, the women’s national team program went from not qualifying for major international events to being a podium contender at Senior and age-group national team events.  During her tenure, the Senior Women’s National Team qualified for five Olympic Games (between 2000 and 2024) and five consecutive FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cups (previously known as the FIBA World Championship for Women) from 2006 to 2022. Canada’s women’s NextGen programs also began to rise as the U19 national teams qualified for ten consecutive FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cups since 2005 (4^th in 2009; bronze in 2017; bronze in 2023), while U17 teams have also qualified for every FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup since the event began in 2010 (bronze in 2012; 4^th in 2022 and silver in 2024).

“I would like to express sincere gratitude to my colleagues at Canada Basketball and all our dedicated national team coaches and staff for their contribution and loyalty in supporting and developing our Team Canada athletes,” said Dignard. “Without the help of people across this country, we could not have achieved all we have. I look forward to cheering on our Canadian athletes and seeing the continued growth trajectory of our women’s national team program towards podium ambitions and the impact they and Canada Basketball will make to inspire the next generation and all Canadians through the sport we all love.” 

For her contributions to growing the game of basketball, Dignard was recognized in 2018 when a new recreation centre in her hometown was named in her honour. Last year, she was also inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in the Builder category.

Dignard represented Canada internationally as a player from 1978 to 1981.  She competed at the 1979 World Championship for Women, where the team earned a historic bronze medal, the first-ever medal for Canada at a FIBA Women’s World Championship and tied for the program’s best result in the tournament (bronze at the 1986 World Championship for Women). She played for Canada at the 1980 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women and the 1979 Pan Am Games and FISU Games, where Canada finished third in both competitions.

With Dignard's retirement, Canada Basketball will review the women’s high-performance program structure to align with upcoming Olympic quadrennial strategies. Steve Baur, currently the Director of Player Development & Associate Head Coach of the Senior Women’s National Team, will serve as Interim Head of Women’s High Performance and oversee day-to-day program operations. In 2014, Baur joined Canada Basketball as a Performance Analyst for women’s high performance (WHP) and has been involved in developing age-group, NextGen and Senior Women’s National Team athletes, both on and off the court as an administrator and a coach.

Canada’s women are ranked seventh in the FIBA World Ranking Presented by NIKE following the Olympic Basketball Tournament and World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments, while Canada’s girls are ranked third following the FIBA 2023 Youth Events.