Kathleen Woodcock

Elected to the position of OPSBA President in July 2024, President Kathleen Woodcock is a six-term trustee on the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). Prior to becoming OPSBA president, Kathleen served as First Vice-President and before that, as Second Vice-President. She has been involved in many leadership positions at her home board including chair, vice-chair, past chair and member/chair of many statutory and ad hoc committees.

President Woodcock holds a Master of Social Work degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree, both from Wilfrid Laurier University. A strong believer in life-long learning, Kathleen attained her MSW while working full-time at WLU and to move her professional career forward to the next level.

Kathleen retired from the City of Kitchener’s Community Services Department in 2020. As a staff member in the public sector, Kathleen learned how to strategically interact with elected officials while concurrently, as an elected trustee, applying those skills to building relationships at the WRDSB with trustee colleagues, staff and administration alike. While working at the City of Kitchener, she attained her green belt level in Lean Management. Together with her experience and education in community development, community engagement and policy development and her 20+ years as a locally elected trustee, Kathleen works from a strengths perspective in her advocacy for a strong public education system with access for all students, regardless of their background.