With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1484213
62 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 O n his first day as CEO of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Pat Davis went on vacation. Since the gambling entertainment compa- ny is a Crown corporation, Davis had to first wait for the board to offer him the role and then for the government to approve it. By the time the announcement took place this Au- gust, Davis was on day one of his holiday. "I was at a friend's place getting ready to go golfing," he thinks back with a laugh. "That got put on hold, of course. It did mean that I was able to go out and cel- ebrate with friends at the end of the day and have a nice dinner at one of the winer- ies, but it also meant that all of my initial conversations with the team and company were through video conference." In managing all legal gambling activi- ties in the province, the BCLC's main lines of revenue are its lottery business (which includes 3,500 lottery retailers), casino operations (it has 36 casino properties with some 1,400 slot machines in total) and its online gambling site, playnow.com. But casinos were closed for over a year due to the pandemic. A big focus for Davis since taking the reins from Jim Lightbody— who stepped down due to health complica- tions, inviting Greg Moore and then Lynda Cavanaugh to serve on an interim basis for three years—is to work with service pro- viders and partners to rebuild the casino business. Although Davis has been with the organization for some 20 years—he joined as a project manager and climbed the ranks to become VP of business technology and chief information officer—his first experience as a shot-caller goes back to college. getting your keycard, you're figuring out where the wash- room is, you're getting turned around... but, as the CEO, you do need to get up to speed rap- idly so you can effectively steer the organization." After a national recruitment process, Carr took over the BCOGC from Paul Jeakins, who had directed the organization for 11 years. Normally, she would have a 30-, 60- and 90-day plan, along with a series of in-person meetings on her first day to get a sense of the culture, but the pandemic made it difficult for business to go on as usual. "There weren't a lot of people in the office," she re- calls. "When you're meeting Indigenous leaders, commu- nity leaders and industry rep- resentatives through a screen, the ability to connect people to their roles and have that insight that comes from casual conver- sation was challenging." But, over the last six months, Carr has taken it upon herself to visit the Commis- sion's outposts, from its opera- tional hub in Fort St. John to its offices in Victoria, Kelowna, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek, Prince George and Terrace. The 282-person Crown corporation regulates oil and gas in the province, oversee- ing the full lifecycle of energy resource activities. It monitors 50,000 kilometres of pipeline, approximately 1,000 facilities (including processing plants, compressor stations and LNG plants) and nearly 10,000 ac- tive oil and gas wells. From permits to site planning and restoration, the BCOGC is in charge of ensuring that op- erations are undertaken with public safety, reconciliation, the environment and economic growth in mind. Still, the sector is under refinement. In light of shift- ing views around fossil fuels, Going All In CASINOS WERE CLOSED FOR A YEAR. NOW BCLC CEO PAT DAVIS IS CALLING THE SHOTS TO BRING PLAYERS BACK INTO THE FOLD L E A D E R S H I P energy transition, ESG and land use planning, Carr thinks it's necessary to discuss the organi- zation's priorities and position on a regular basis. Together with her leadership team, the CEO built on the Commission's vision for 2030 by creating something her team calls the S- POP—a strategic plan on a page. "It's always great when you've got people making an affectionate name for your stra- tegic plan," says Carr. The new mission, vision and areas of focus include advancing reconciliation and partnerships with Indigenous people, encouraging resource innovation and facilitating energy transition. Creating a "progressive workforce" is imperative to that, according to Carr, who has a reputation for being transparent and collab- orative, and who is particularly excited about inviting diverse ideas into the BCOGC. "We want to be a workplace of choice," she insists. "We are no different from other workplaces, focusing on hir- ing and retention of our staff... how do we harness that lived experience, the knowledge that comes from having employees across the province, living in community, to collabora- tively advance the work of the Commission?"—R.R.