Location: NCR – Le Salon, National Arts Centre
Subject: “Excellence System in CFIA – a case study on Excellence involving the Canadian Food Inspection Agency”
Presentation: Not available at this time. Also, there will be photos posted to our Gallery in due course.
Registrants and “walk-ins”: 24
Speaker: Mark Willcox, Director, Operations Branch Excellence, Office of the Inspector General, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Mark obtained a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan. He worked in private industry, followed by several years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatchewan. After relocating to Ottawa, he transitioned to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, working in both Programs and Operations. Mark has held management positions in the Deputy Minister, Agriculture’s office as well as with the Canada Border Services Agency. After holding various management positions in CFIA, Mark is now Director, Operations Branch Excellence, Office of the Inspector General at CFIA.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is the largest science-based regulatory agency in Canada. It was created in 1997 to consolidate and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of federal inspection and related services for food, animal and plant health.
In his presentation, Mark talked about the implementation of CFIA’s excellence system and what it has done for their organization. He took the time to situate his audience by providing some CFIA background and the work undertaken to reach the point where he can now speak about their established Excellence initiative. He provided some very useful tips on implementing an Excellence System, spoke about lessons learned and anticipated next steps. The last 45 minutes of his available time was devoted to interaction with attendees. Many questions were asked and answered and many comments offered. Attendees were delighted with the session and the resulting feedback forms revealed Mark had “scored” 4.8 out of a possible 5.
After the discussion, Don Wilson provided a short briefing for those present regarding CPSEN’s Canadian Public Sector Excellence Fair and its postponement to November. Additional information can be found by visiting the Fair website.