Windsor Public Library names city culture head as new CEO

In an effort to save taxpayers money by turning three jobs into two, the Windsor Public Library has named a longtime city manager — without library experience — as its new CEO.

Jennifer Knights, the city’s executive director of recreation and culture, has been appointed to helm the Windsor library system while retaining her culture portfolio at city hall.

Knights was appointed to the library’s top spot by the Windsor Public Library board during a meeting on Oct 3. She’ll take the reins from interim library CEO Michael Chantler, with whom she previously managed the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre and Adventure Bay, on Oct. 21.

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With the go-ahead from Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, the library board opted to combine the library job with the city’s culture gig, rather than recruiting for a new library CEO, library board chair Mark McKenzie told the Star. The move also shifts the city’s recreation file onto a different city manager. 

The library board, McKenzie said, wanted “someone to run day-to-day operations and make the improvements that need to be made, and also work with staff.”

The person didn’t need to have library experience, but they did need managerial experience, and “Jen Knights brings that to the table,” he said.

“She’s worked in recreation for years. She’s done an amazing job there — we think she’s the perfect person to take over as permanent CEO of the library.”

McKenzie, who also represents Ward 4 on city council, said neither of the library’s past two acting CEOs had library experience, and “they both did a great job.”

Knights told the Star she’s a “big proponent of lifelong learning” and sees her new position as a way to continue to learn.

“I see it as an opportunity to blend or create synergies with the experiences that I’ve had in a number of different roles as I’ve progressed through my career. I think that it’s a good fit.”

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In a mayoral decision published online Friday, Dilkens amended the city’s organizational structure, shifting the “culture” portfolio under the “library services” branch, both of which Knights will now oversee as library CEO.

“We think there are so many synergies between culture and the library, especially now that we have the Windsor Star archives,” McKenzie said. “That was another reason we started looking at Jen Knights.”

By combining positions, McKenzie said, the city will save roughly $200,000 each year.

Knights said there will be “a lot of cross-pollination” between her culture portfolio at city hall and the library CEO position, but what performing both jobs will look like is “something that will continue to be explored.”

Under the mayoral decision, the city’s “recreation” portfolio, which had been paired with culture, will be managed under the “parks and facilities” umbrella by James Chacko, the current executive director of parks and facilities.

Dilkens also appointed interim library CEO Chantler as the acting senior executive director of community services, a position introduced under a previous organizational restructuring that had remained vacant.

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Knights first became a City of Windsor employee in 2014, when she was hired to manage the Windsor International Aquatics and Training Centre. At the time, she had more than 25 years of experience in the field, including as program director for aquatics, dance, and sport at Western University, supervisor of aquatics for the City of London, and aquatics program technician in Victoria, B.C.

Now that a new CEO has been selected, the library board is focused on finding a permanent location for the central branch, McKenzie said. The downtown library currently occupies a section of the Paul Martin Building at 185 Ouellette Ave., which will soon be transformed into a privately-operated boutique hotel.

Starting in January, the library will implement uniform hours across all branches and add Sunday service — a change Knights will usher in.

As demand for digital resources rises, McKenzie also hopes to see increasing modernization at the library system under Knights.

“We’re seeing that our digital numbers are way up, so we’re trying to really push that,” McKenzie said. “There are so many people that don’t even realize what we offer digitally.”

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Knights will be the fifth CEO at the Windsor Public Library in the last year-and-a-half.

Former permanent library CEO Kitty Pope’s sudden retirement in the spring of 2023 was announced in a staff memo. The Windsor native led the organization for nearly 10 years, and had experience at libraries in Alberta, Illinois, and Ontario.

Pope’s absence followed a meeting of the library board held at city hall in April 2023 that included an in-camera item, the nature of which was not specified.

At the time, board chair Mark McKenzie told the Star Pope had decided to retire. Pope could not be reached for comment.

Following Pope’s departure, Chris Woodrow, the library’s director of corporate services — now retired — filled in as acting CEO for about a month. He had served as interim CEO from 2012-2014 after Pope’s predecessor, Barry Holmes, vacated the post amid a library credit card spending scandal.

After Woodrow, Dana Paladino, who was the city’s acting director of human resources at the time, took over.

Not long after, Chantler was shuffled to the library gig. He had been managing the aquatics centre and water park for around two years, and was assistant manager of the water complex before that.

Before being named assistant manager of the aquatics centre and water park in 2014, Chantler served as manager of the Ontario Summer Games in Windsor. Prior to that, he was supervisor of licensing, and deputy licence commissioner, as well as supervisor of membership and communication with the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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