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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1484213
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 BCBUSINESS 61 BCBUSINESS.CA G iven the remarkable career Michelle Carr has built doing exactly what she went to school for, it's not surprising that the CEO of the BC Oil & Gas Commission (BCOGC) takes pride in pro- claiming herself a "co-op success story." The UVic grad remembers taking a Geography 101 course in her third year (around 1990, when she started picking up on the idea of environmental sustainability in public discourse) that prompted her to leave English and classical studies behind forever. "I absolutely loved it and didn't take any courses from any other faculty until I graduated," says Carr. She now holds both a bachelor's and a master's in geogra- phy, having done six co-op placements in the natural resource sectors of federal and provincial governments. She put in the elbow grease at Safeway to get through university, but her interest in the environment led her to commit 26 years to public service, addressing various natural resource issues in B.C. She got an advanced leadership certificate from Sauder in 2016, just before serving as the assistant deputy minister and general manager of the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, oversee- ing public safety and interest for more than 10,000 liquor establishments and manufac- turers as well as the development of non- medical cannabis retail in B.C. Then, in 2021, she came over to the role of the BCOGC's new CEO from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innova- tion, where she was assistant deputy min- ister of the LNG Canada Implementation Secretariat. She was appointed to lead the provincial implementation of LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink projects shortly after the joint venture participants made their final investment decision. "With it being the largest sector invest- ment in Canadian history, that project intersected with the mandates of every ministry and government," she notes. "I was excited to take on that role because I had a previous appointment as the as- sistant deputy minister and executive lead with B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Of- fice, which conducted the environmental assessments of major projects worth ap- proximately $36 billion in potential capital investment when I was there." If you ask Carr, she'll say that being onboarded as a CEO is a lot like being on- boarded for any other type of role: "You're All Too Well MICHELLE CARR WANTS TO PUMP DIVERSE THINKING INTO THE BC OIL & GAS COMMISSION L E A D E R S H I P HOW DO YOU HANDLE CRITICISM? Feedback is a gift to support continuous improvement. ARE YOU A RISK-TAKER OR RISK-AVERSE? I'm a thoughtful risk-taker at work but not on the ski slopes! WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL FOR A LEADER TO HAVE? To listen and learn from people in your organization and to keep people informed by communicating transparently and frequently. " I was excited to take on that role because I had a previous appointment as the assistant deputy minister and executive lead with B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office, which conducted the environmental assessments of major projects worth approximately $36 billion in potential capital investment when I was there. "