People passionate about nature

Sean Worden

Service Award Recipient 2015

President's Award Recipient 2011

Sean Worden joined Nature Manitoba in 2006, and served as our Treasurer from 2007 to 2013. In his day-job life, he is a Certified Management Accountant with over 23 years of experience, but in his real life, he is an avid outdoor enthusiast, especially when it comes to canoeing, camping, hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. (This includes winter camping, where the prospect of sleeping outside at temperatures below -30 C does not deter him!)

Sean has put his talents from both sides of his life to good use for the Society. Sean’s recent 6-year service as Treasurer was greatly appreciated. Being treasurer for Nature Manitoba is a demanding job, as our finances are rather complicated and somewhat different from conventional business accounting. In his financial reports to the board, Sean was able to explain them so the other non-accountant board members could understand, and we always waited for the concluding passage of his reports that affirmed “all remittances to Revenue Canada have been paid”. This assured us the government would not be coming to put us in jail.

One of Sean’s most remarkable contributions has been his championing of the case surrounding the Victoria Beach Cabin. This has been a complex issue from the very beginning. Sean took charge of the committee that first explored potential options for the property, including consultation with the membership. He has spent countless hours in meetings with municipal councilors, lawyers, Land Titles officials, and many more hours searching through archived minutes and historical records (most of which are on paper, not digital, as the cabin dates from the 1920’s). This included reading other court decisions for snippets of information that could be relevant to our case. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Sean for this alone.

Beyond the boardroom, Sean is also an active trip leader and more recently is now a Workshop presenter. Sean has lead canoe trips ranging from day trips by canoe down Hansen’s Creek in the Whiteshell to organizing a 6-day canoe excursion through Quetico Provincial Park. More recently, he led a hiking trip on the Mantario trail, as well as some winter camping outings. His most recent mission is to pass on backcountry camping skills to the novice (and perhaps not-so-novice) members through both classroom and practical sessions so they can fully enjoy the full range of trips offered by our trip leaders. Sean truly embraces the values of Nature Manitoba.