PRINCE GEORGE – Earlier this year, Northern Development Initiative Trust announced that its current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) would be retiring this fall and that the Trust would commence the search for her replacement.
The Trust’s Board of Directors has selected a new Chief Executive Officer to succeed retiring CEO Janine North and ensure a smooth transition of leadership this fall. Joel McKay, the Trust’s Director of Communications, will succeed Ms. North as CEO beginning October 3rd, 2016.
McKay joined the Trust’s executive team in 2012, and since then has been responsible for leading the Trust’s communications and marketing, economic research and analysis, as well as the Fabulous Festivals and Events funding program. Prior to joining the Trust, McKay was an award-winning business journalist in Vancouver specializing in coverage of the province’s natural resources industries, notably forestry, mining, oil and gas and renewable energy.
“I feel honoured to have been selected to lead the Trust into its second decade,” he says. “The north is my home, my family’s home, and I believe very passionately that the best economic decisions for the north should be made in the north. I look forward to continuing to serve our board of directors and collaborate with our regional advisors to ensure the Trust is responsibly responsive to the needs of communities throughout central and northern B.C.”
The decision follows a rigorous three-month selection process that fielded potential succession candidates from across British Columbia.
Ms. North will remain CEO until the transition date, helping to ensure the Trust continues to deliver on its mandate to strengthen and diversify the economy in central and northern B.C. Ms. North’s decision to retire comes after more than a decade of service to the Trust, and is driven by her personal desire to spend more time with her family and other board and personal commitments.
Since 2005, the Trust has used its resources to approve more than $150 million in funding for more than 2,000 projects throughout central and northern B.C.
In that time, the Trust has leveraged $1.2 billion in new investment to the region and helped diversify the economy. Today, the Trust is sustainably managed with a capital base in excess of $250 million and two dozen programs and services that foster collaboration, sustainability and diversification in the region’s communities.
