Stephanie Price on her new role as Engineers Canada’s Interim Chief Executive Officer

 

Just a month into her new role as Engineers Canada’s Interim CEO, Stephanie Price, P.Eng., CAE, has hit the ground running to bring focus to the work the organization does in support of the engineering profession.

“I’m looking forward to being able to set the direction so that we’re concentrating on the things that will make the biggest impacts for the profession,” Price said. “I’m honoured by the trust that’s been placed in me by the Board and by the engineering regulators, and I’m excited about the opportunity to improve the organization so that we can continue to serve the regulators.

“My focus will be on aligning our activities with theirs so that what we do supports and complements the work that they’re already doing.”

Price is very familiar with the organization and with the profession, having joined Engineers Canada in 2009 as Manager, Qualifications and was later Practice Lead, Assessments. She became Chief of Staff in October 2016 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer and Interim CEO in February 2017. Prior to joining Engineers Canada, she had spent 13 years in the cement manufacturing industry and consulting.

With this background, she has a clear concept of Engineers Canada’s role in the community and of her priorities in her new role, first among them being to bring focus to the work that Engineers Canada does.

“I want to position Engineers Canada to only do those things that we are uniquely positioned to do,” she said. “We should be concentrating on those areas where we can provide more value to the profession than any other stakeholder.”

She also wants to improve Engineers Canada’s accreditation function, strengthening the process and regaining the confidence of all stakeholders.

Her third priority is to support the successful re-negotiation of Engineers Canada’s affinity programs, ensuring that all program participants receive value from them.

While she’s confident that these are achievable goals, she’s also aware that there will be challenges along the way, as there are for any national association representing multiple voices from various jurisdictions.

“There are a diversity of opinions, practices and requirements across Canada for the engineering profession,” Price says. “What it comes down to is getting everyone on the same page and making sure that work in certain areas that may not be directly in the service of all still contributes to and benefits the advancement of the profession as a whole.”

Supporting her along the way as she works on advancing these priorities and tackling these challenges will be the Engineers Canada staff.

“I’m looking forward to leading this great team that we’ve got at Engineers Canada,” she said. “Everyone on staff is an expert in what they do and takes great pride in their work.

“I have absolute confidence that the work that we undertake together will be extremely valuable to advancing the engineering profession.”

A key enabler of this work will be better communication, both within Engineers Canada and outside of the organization—including to staff, to Board and committee members, to regulators and to likeminded organizations and other stakeholders—about the work that Engineers Canada does and why.

“I want to improve our communication, both internally and externally,” Price says. “There’s an opportunity for people to know us better, individually as Engineers Canada, and collectively as a profession.

“I want to do a better job of telling that story because ultimately, this is how we’ll be able to continue serving the engineering regulators to the best of our abilities.”