MVA hits reset on search for new CEO
The Meewasin Valley Authority could be without a permanent boss for a year after the agency’s board hit the reset button on the search for a new leader.
The MVA board conducted interviews for a new chief executive officer last year, but opted to advertise the position again rather than offer it to one of the candidates interviewed.
“We’re looking for quite a unique person, especially in light of the uncertainty with the funding,” Coun. Bev Dubois, a member of the MVA board, said in an interview on Friday.
“It is quite a unique position in that Meewasin is quite a unique model.”
The riverbank custodian agency is facing its biggest test since its inception in 1979 as a partnership between the city, the province and the University of Saskatchewan.
The provincial Saskatchewan Party government cut funding to the MVA in its March 2017 budget, then removed the stipulation for funding from the province and the U of S.
In May, the MVA board fired CEO Lloyd Isaak after four years leading the agency. Longtime MVA manager Doug Porteous was named the interim CEO and has said he will not apply for the permanent job.
Board chair Colin Tennant said in an email that the organization is “blessed” to have Porteous continue in the role until a permanent replacement can be found.
Dubois acknowledged the agency could be without a permanent leader for an entire year, but stressed the importance of finding the right person.
The agency aims to offer the position to the successful candidate in late March or early April, which could mean the new CEO is in place by May.
The board will start advertising the position again on Monday and will promote the position more extensively across the country, Dubois said.
The focus of the board in its new search will include fund development, given the MVA’s precarious financial situation, she added.
Dubois said the board received 35 to 40 applications for the position in the first search.
Tennant lauded the “talented and very capable candidates” from the first search.
“A specialized skillset is required to retool Meewasin as the internationally recognized leader in conservation we have become in our 39-year history,” Tennant wrote.