Mark Comerford MBA

• Provide leadership, direction and mentoring to a team of 133 managerial, supervisory and administrative support staff and promote the concept of “employer of choice”, to ensure effective and positive delivery of services and programs. • Provide strategic leadership and direction in business planning, financial oversight and administrative services to ensure compliance with relevant legislative and policy frameworks and responsiveness to Albertans and stakeholder requirements and expectations. • Plan, direct and evaluate program operations to deliver a shared service in accordance with relevant strategic and business plans, service level agreements and memorandum of understanding with three ministries.

• Responsible for the planning, development and early implementation of the $1 billion Bow River Reservoir Project. • Led the highly successful Bow River Basin Water Management Project involving a wide range of stakeholders across Southern Alberta, including water managers, municipalities, indigenous communities, industry, non-governmental organizations and provincial and federal government departments, resulting in robust and technically sound strategic advice to the Government of Alberta. • Accountable for approximately $105 million in capital and operations funding for various flood adaptation grants and flood adaptation and mitigation projects. • Led the planning, development, scheduling and allocation of resources for the preliminary engineering and design of mitigation infrastructure projects funded by the government.

• Coordinated the development of isolation facility policies and established operation processes for individuals needing to isolate on behalf of Alberta Health, Justice and Solicitor General, Community and Social Services, and Alberta Health Services. The Emergency Management Committee of Cabinet approved the isolation facility policy. • Instrumental in the stand up of the Coutts Border Health Checkpoint under extremely tight timelines in partnership with Health and Alberta Health Services and supported the sole source contract with a service provider. Led the transition of operations from Alberta Health Services to the service provider and subsequent transition of operations to the Health Emergency Operations Centre on task force drawdown.

• Developed and implemented a comprehensive stakeholder engagement framework that supported departmental operations and plans. • Led public and inter-governmental engagement activities and relationship building to provide an integrated approach, province wide, with a highly motivated and empowered team located across the province. • Provided strategic leadership and direction to support the effective implementation of branch activities within the scope of divisional, departmental and organizational business plans. • Continuously developed and fostered strong and trusting relationships with elected officials, government executives, municipal administration, watershed groups, community groups and individual members of the public to enable open and transparent collaboration on key initiatives and projects.

• Coordinated recovery efforts within the affected areas impacted by the 2013 Southern Alberta floods. • Led the delivery of immediate and longer-term recovery operations and services to municipalities and impacted residents, through a team of 12 high-performing Recovery Coordinators across southern Alberta. • Ensured recovery priorities and goals were met, resolved complex and sensitive issues, ensured briefing materials and recommendations were timely and appropriate, communication plans were in place and stakeholder consultations were undertaken as required to identify and resolve issues. • Oversaw the coordination of cross-ministry work, including individual ministerial recovery teams to ensure consistency and alignment of effort.

• Responsible to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Regional Services, for the development of support services, information flow and strategic plans for the division in support of the Ministry’s business objectives. • Interpreted and implemented initiatives and requests into operational instructions for divisional staff. • Proactively managed issues by investigating, analyzing and working with divisional executive and management. • Key liaison role with the Minister’s and Deputy Minister’s offices as well as Division and Branch heads.

• Instrumental in the business integration of 3 privately owned companies recently acquired in line with company and corporate directives and goals. Directly involved in the planning and implementation of the company ERP system across 7 Canadian facilities. • On target to achieve over $186k in savings year on year through strategic forecasting, planning and execution by enabling the integration of resources and implementation of best practice in line with corporate policies. • Worked closely with executive management and corporate teams to implement Enterprise Sourcing Agreements across North America and Europe to leverage company and corporate volumes and achieve aggressive discounts and rebates.

• Successfully planned and implemented the relocation of company offices, inventory, material and large industrial equipment to a 68,000 Sq Ft facility, liaising with the site custodians and contractors to ensure an uninterrupted, timely and smooth transition of operations and ensuring all requirements for new warehouse and mechanical equipment were fulfilled. • Developed and submitted all warehouse and supply chain processes and procedures within established corporate guidelines to enable the company to work towards ISO 9001 certification.

• Responsible for the replenishment of the groceries department of a large 24 hour superstore with weekly sales in the range of CAD$3-4M, maintaining departmental wages, expenses, waste and unknown loss within weekly budgets while continuously driving availability and sales to maximize profits. • Operated in line with Health and Safety, Trading Standards, Food Safety and Hygiene legislation while ensuring corporate compliance. • Ensured open dialogue and collaboration with union representatives to successfully resolve issues before escalation.

• Personally appointed by the CEO to develop, plan and deliver a multi-disciplinary safety inspection and risk mitigation program covering over 70 sites across the United Kingdom. • Ensuring the continued and progressive technical training and development of up to 40 personnel to allow the timely delivery of expert technical and logistical support to the organization.

• Designed, planned and coordinated the construction of multi-site storage and re-manufacture facilities within the high risk area of operations and provided technical advice to the Force Commander. • Successfully planned and coordinated an agreement between British, Canadian and Dutch Forces to enable the integration of national regulations and the safe and efficient operation of a major storage and distribution facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

• Accountable for the operation of a 250,000 sq ft multi-site distribution and production facility and provided planning, provisioning, supply chain management, disaster management, movement and distribution of hazardous material with a financial throughput in excess of CAD$70M per annum. • Streamlined processes within regulatory safety constraints resulting in increased efficiency and cost saving through the reduction of man-hour requirements.

• Directly responsible for the technical investigation of ammunition and explosive accidents, defects and performance failures, resulting in the alteration of firing procedures, modifications to weapon systems or ammunition to prevent further injury to personnel and damage to high value equipment. • Liaised with the British Police as a Bomb Disposal Operator, tasked with the disposal of terrorist explosive devices and the safeguarding of life and property to prevent the terrorist from achieving their aim. • Planned, implemented, delivered and managed the operation of a 50,000 sq ft multi-site ammunition field storage and processing facility, in the Sultanate of Oman.

• Provided ammunition technical advice to all British Army units in Bosnia and Croatia, including the management of inventory and redistribution of critical stocks to maintain operational capability. • Internally head hunted to lead an investigation into a fatality which resulted in the identification and modification of serious faults in operating procedures. 1986 to 1999 - Various production and planning positions, including deployed operations.

Army career began in the Royal Armoured Corp and after amalgamations in 1993, transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as an Ammunition Technician.

The MBA in Executive Management at Royal Roads University is designed for working professionals, by working professionals. The program builds on each student’s current knowledge and experience to develop the strategic skills business growth depends upon, and provides a broad understanding of critical issues in management leadership. It also me to select electives in the areas of community sustainability, innovation, change management and understanding economic decision making for an individualized MBA experience that aligned with my career goals.

Diploma in Information and Communications Technology.