Our Board and Members
The Tobias Foundation consist of a group of individuals with a passion for the outdoors, and who are committed to touching the lives of less privileged in society through the promotion of sport and healthy living. The collective experience of the Management Team covers a wide range of activities including Sport Management, Sport Therapy, Mentorship, Race Directorship, Quality Management, Marketing and Financial Management. Most of them are, or have been, athletes themselves.The current Board of Directors of the Tobias Foundation are Clarance Tobias (Chairman and President), Verlier QuanVie (ViceChairman and Secretary) and Jude Patrick (Treasurer).
Clarance Tobias,Chairman & Founding Member
Tocotoby, as he is commonly known, is a past national triathlon/multisport champion from the rural village of Toco, Trinidad. As a youth, he had an innate ability for running however it was not until his late teens that Clarance’s venture
into the world of work took him away from his beloved hometown into the much faster pace of urban life. One of the good things that came with relocating was he could participate in more formal sporting events and it was at one of these events that he met Dexter Voisin, certified NAAA coach, who encouraged him to pursue sports more seriously and became his coach and friend. Over the next 10 years under Coach Voisin’s mentorship Clarance blossomed into one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most outstanding distance runners.
In 2007, Clarance began competing in the multisport arena (Duathlon, Triathlon and Adventure Racing) and quickly developed a passion for these multifacete sporting disciplines as they are reminiscent of the lifestyle of his youth where on an average day he could run, swim, surf and run back home again. Kayaking was new to him and quite challenging but he was determined to conquer it and this he did. On his first attempt at the Coast to Coast Adventure Race in 2007 he placed 3rd in a field of 14 individual competitors in this gruelling race which required him to ride, run and yes, to kayak.
In 2008, after placing 3rd in the Tropical Power Coast to Coast event, in keeping with his goal to contribute to building the sport and give back to his local community of Toco he also made time along with a couple of friends to set up Save a Sole which held its first distribution in Toco in July 2009. In spite of his very hectic schedule, his passion for sport and recognition of unmet needs in rural communities spawned even more ideas about how he could lend his support through other projects. It soon became apparent that managing these projects would require more human
resource and management and so the idea of the Tobias Foundation was born. The NGO was eventually incorporated in December 2012.
Verlier QuanVie – Vice Chairman & Secretary
Verlier is currently a Commercial Manager at BG Trinidad and Tobago and is an avid hiker and amateur runner with a penchant for the outdoors. Verlier is a recent addition to the Management team and is currently the Secretary for the Tobias Foundation. Since joining, she has enthusiastically spread the word about Save a Sole in as many forums as possible and manages the administrative activities of the Foundation.
“Having heard about Save a Sole and the other projects of the Tobias Foundation, I knew that I wanted to assist in any way possible, since, I fully understand the benefits of having the proper footwear to make the sporting activity more comfortable and enjoyable. I can never stop promoting the benefits of an active lifestyle as it improves health and has a positive influence on your social and business acumen.
To me, donating 1-2 pairs of sneakers that would have otherwise have stayed at the back of your closet simply makes good sense and is an ecofriendly way of performing your social responsibility of giving back to society and promoting sustainable development with the youths in Trinidad and Tobago.”