Sarich's first bid into electoral politics was in 2001, when she ran for a seat in Ward 2 on the Edmonton Catholic School District's board of trustees. She defeated Ward 2 incumbent trustee Ronald Zapisocki by 602 votes to win the seat. During her first term, Sarich earned a reputation as a tight fiscal conservative, at times calling on the board to have its budget audited after reporting a 10 million dollar deficit. In her bid for reelection in 2004, Sarich polled the most votes out of all 14 candidates in the Catholic district race and outpolled her Ward 2 opponent Jim Urlacher by a margin of almost 2 to 1. She did not seek reelection in 2007, allowing her to run for a seat in the Alberta Legislature. In the 2008 provincial election, Sarich received 46% of the vote and defeated Liberal incumbent Bill Bonko by 723 votes to win the constituency of Edmonton-Decore. Following the election, Sarich was appointed to Cabinet by Premier Ed Stelmach to the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Education Minister, Dave Hancock and served in this role until 2011. Highlights while serving as Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Education included mandated to support the Minister in the evaluation of education infrastructure, chair and release the task force report "Building Financial Capacity for School Board Trustees and Superintendents", and to serve on the committee and contribute to the report "Inspiring Education-A Dialogue with Albertans."
Background
Janice Sarich was born April 26, 1958 in Edmonton. She obtained a Master of Education degree and a Bachelor of Physical Education both from the University of Alberta. She holds Project Management and Project Leadership certificates from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and from the Institute of Corporate Directors she holds certificates in the ICD-Rotman Governance Essentials Program and the ICD-Rotman Boardroom Financial Essentials. Prior to entering public life, Sarich was a small business owner and President of a business consulting company for over 20 years providing expertise in the areas of strategic planning, policy, and governance in the private and public sectors. Janice's community volunteer contributions include: a business mentor with interVivos, Board of Director and Chair, Speakers' Bureau with the Alberta Association of Former MLAs, and served as an advisory committee member to the Junior League of Edmonton and Catholic Social Services. Sarich served on Public Interest Alberta's Democracy Task Force, which examined potential areas of democratic reform in Alberta, and was one of the contributors to the publication "Democratic Renewal In Alberta Discussion Paper", and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights Symposium report, "A More Democratic Alberta: How Do We Get There?". While elected as a School Board Trustee, Sarich volunteered with Junior Achievement Northern Alberta & NWT to share her business knowledge and experience with junior high students. For more than ten years she served on numerous boards, committees, and published articles in the corporate health and wellness industry.
