Current Opportunities

General Manager | Western Milk Pool

The Organization

The Western Milk Pool (WMP) is the association of dairy producers for the four Western Canadian provinces and the respective Boards: BC Milk Marketing Board, BC Dairy Association, Alberta Milk, SaskMilk, and the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba.

The WMP was established in 1997 and is undergoing a transformation of its governance model, which focuses on working together as a partnership that will see commonalities addressed as one body, and will allow for better coordination between the provincial dairy organizations. The transformation was unanimously approved in 2022 and is supported by a guiding mission, vision and values with the goals of maintaining the high quality of milk, providing service excellence in dairy, and contributing to a vibrant dairy industry in Canada.

Representing 25 per cent of the milk produced in Canada, the Western Milk Pool supports dairy producers across the western provinces to produce safe, nutritious food in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way. The Western Milk Pool will strive to provide dairy farmers with accurate, timely, and balanced industry information, and to leverage funding for research, new initiatives, and nutrition education. The organization is responsible for the development of dairy policy, quota administration, transportation of raw milk, processor billing and producer services, such as payment, marketing, and production research.

Vision: Better Together for Canadian Dairy.

Mission: Inspiring, Innovating, and Collaborating to Build a Healthy Canadian Dairy Industry.

 

The Opportunity

Reports to:	Board of Directors
Direct Reports:	5 (General Managers of each Provincial body)
Location:	Western Canada

 

Mandate

Reporting to the Western Milk Pool’s Board of Directors, the General Manager is the external face of the organization representing dairy farmers to processors, industry partners and government (provincial and national).  The successful candidate will continue to champion a strategic and collaborative approach to achieving industry goals for Western Canada’s dairy production, through the effective application of operational excellence.

The General Manager will work in collaboration with the Board of Directors to implement the initiatives coming out of WMP’s transformative Strategic Plan, while also providing overall leadership to the organization to achieve the goals of the Western Milk Pool. WMP seeks to attract a highly motivated leader who enjoys working with a diverse, geographically dispersed team in sharing in the commitment, responsibility, and discipline required to achieve the vision of growth and health of the Canadian dairy industry. The General Manager will champion an environment that encourages creativity, achievement, passion, and a culture that promotes collaboration and innovation.

As this is the inaugural General Manager hire for a fledgling organization, the successful candidate will be a builder, comfortable creating structures where none currently exist, will be adept at managing through ambiguity and change, and will be able to think strategically while demonstrating a willingness to “roll up their sleeves”.

 

Key Accountabilities

The position will include the following responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership:

• Engage with the Board in annual and long-term strategic planning with responsibility for the implementation of the objectives currently stated in the Strategic Plan;
• Ensure strategic priorities and key result areas are met; and
• Ensure financial accountability and effective stewardship of the jurisdiction.

Stakeholder Relations:

• Gain a deep understanding of the motivations of stakeholders, both internally and externally, in order to build strategies that create positive progress in influencing behaviors and perspectives;
• Consult on issues for policy development relative to the positioning of Western Milk Pool in a National supply management system;
• Actively engage with national stakeholders in government, agriculture, and the dairy industry to ensure those relationships are strong, trusted and collaborative;
• Build and maintain a collegial and cooperative rapport with the Dairy Farmers of Canada, thereby allowing the Canadian dairy industry to thrive;
• Represent Western Milk Pool at key events to enhance the organization’s profile across Western Canada;
• Act as spokesperson for the Western Milk Pool for media enquiries/stories related to the industry;
• Ensure the WMP meets or exceeds the expectations of its clients; and
• Ensure that formal partnerships are established that align with, and further the mission of the Western Milk Pool.

Governance and Board Support:

• Maintain a trusting, open and respectful relationship with the Board;
• Support and enable the effectiveness of the Board by actioning directives/decisions made at the Board level;
• Understand and operate within the established governance model;
• Provide advice on policy and governance as requested by the Board;
• Participate in all Board Meetings, , and, if requested, standing Committee Meetings;
• Report regularly to the Board on strategic plan execution, financial performance and risk management;
• Accountable for the preparation of all Board reports and materials; and
• Provide leadership in recommending policy on the overall operations of the organization.

People Leadership:

• Provide leadership and mentorship to direct reports through establishing, implementing and monitoring goals and metrics;
• Build and motivate a team who are committed to the vision of the WMP, and who feel empowered to work collaboratively in support of the strategic priorities;
• Establish succession planning and the continuous growth of internal capacity and leadership development; and
• Build and champion an integrative culture that instills the guiding behaviors of win-win and thinking bigger with a focus of internal excellence that emphasizes not only the “what” but the “how” of achieving results.

Change Management:

• Lead the development and implementation of an organizational structure that transcends across the Western region, while accounting for current legislation within each province;
• Ensures the Western Milk Pool is prepared for succession at all levels, and that the appropriate resources and staffing are established to manage growing organizational needs; and
• Develop the necessary systems, processes, protocols and tools to better support the integration, facilitation, collection and sharing of knowledge across the provinces.

 

First Year Deliverables / Measures of Success

Success in the first year will be determined by the candidate’s ability to:

• Meaningfully engage and build trusting relationships with the Board, member provinces, and other key stakeholders;
• Work in partnership with the Board to prioritize and begin to execute on the strategic key result areas outlined in the Western Milk Pool’s strategic plan and prioritize existing projects against those;
• Successfully bring together and operationalize the 5 provincial bodies into one cohesive entity by utilizing strong change management leadership skills that will build a culture of collaboration, excitement and engagement in order to meet organizational objectives; and
• Demonstrate visionary thinking in the approach to building and maintaining cooperative, open and trusting relationships with industry partners to present a united position to government.

 

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have the following:

Education:

• Completion of post-secondary education in business, leadership, agriculture or other relevant programs of study.

Experience:

• Successful professional trajectory culminating with a minimum of 10 years of operational leadership in a complex organization;
• An outstanding record of achievement in building an organization from startup to operational maturity and/or successfully merging and integrating operations from two or more organizations utilizing key change management initiatives;
• A track-record of leading cohesive teams towards successful delivery of strategic plans and audacious goals;
• Prior experience reporting to and working closely with a Board of Directors, various committees and stakeholder groups, is preferred;
• Comprehensive knowledge of the agriculture and agri-food sector and factors impacting the industry would be considered an asset; and
• Knowledge of the dairy industry, relevant regulations & Acts, research, programs and industry best practices are considered to be definite assets.

Competencies and Attributes:

• Strategic Leadership: Fosters the development of a common vision providing clear direction and priorities and clarifying roles and responsibilities. Sets the tone for the Western Milk Pool’s culture and ensures succession in management and leadership.
• Strategic Planning: Develops short and long-range plans that are comprehensive, creative, realistic and effective in meeting goals and objectives, and integrates planning efforts across functions.
• People Leadership: Ability to inspire and focus the team toward goal achievement. Demonstrates behaviors consistent with organizational guiding values and demands same from others. Takes ownership of the decision and not the idea.
• Business and Financial Acumen: Understands key business fundamentals, understands the drivers of financial health and accountability of the organization and takes responsibility to maintain its ongoing fiscal soundness.
• Relationship with Board and Stakeholders: Builds trusting relationships with the Board and stakeholders by being open in the sharing and receiving of information and sees these groups as partners in furthering the organization’s goals. Proactively seeks partnership and collaboration with external organizations to ensure long-term strategic success.
• Management of Ambiguity: Adapts effortlessly to changes in priorities, circumstances and environment; is energized by the opportunity to put their mark on an evolving organization.
• Political Acumen: Possesses keen judgement and a heightened ability to perceive the formal and informal influences on a situation. Correctly reads contextual cues and uses the information to frame and sell ideas, influence others, negotiate, persuade, build networks, initiate and manage change.
• Communication: Communicates effectively with stakeholders on goals, plans and issues and seeks feedback and advice before acting. Listens with the intent to understand and not the intent to respond. Exercises tact and diplomacy in all communications. Ability to adapt communication styles to a wide range of audiences across all platforms.
• Professional Credibility: Perceived as responsible, reliable and trustworthy.

 

The Compensation

An excellent compensation package awaits the successful candidate.

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How to Apply:

Please send your resume in Word or PDF format to: HRCCCanada.GBS.EdmontonPIES@ajg.com. Copy and Paste the following job title and code and place it in the subject line of your email so we can identify the job and confirm receipt of your application:
ACBG-360825 General Manager | Western Milk Pool - Western Canada (OTIAPPLY)

Please note that only those candidates meeting the selection criteria, established by our client, will be contacted further. Although we may not contact you directly for this particular role, all applications will be reviewed as we would like to consider you for future opportunities that may be appropriate. We encourage you to continue to visit our website at optimumtalent.com as our opportunities are updated on a regular basis.