Premier announces executive appointments

Premier Danny Williams today announced three executive appointments within the senior civil service.

Sheree MacDonald assumes new responsibilities as the deputy minister of Government Services, effective Monday, January 9.

Bruce Cooper has been appointed acting assistant deputy minister (policy and planning) at the Labour Relations Agency, effective mid-January.

Ann Chafe has been appointed as a commissioner of the Public Service Commission, effective April 1.

"Each of these individuals has made significant contributions to the public service and their experience will serve us well in their new roles. I would like to congratulate them on their accomplishments to date and I look forward to their continued leadership in their new positions," said Premier Williams.

Media contact: Elizabeth Matthews, Office of the Premier, (709) 729-3960, 690-5500, elizabethmatthews@gov.nl.ca

Sheree MacDonald
Ms. MacDonald has an extensive background in government, most recently holding the position of assistant secretary to cabinet (social policy) in the Cabinet Secretariat of Executive Council. She has also served as the assistant deputy minister for the Women's Policy Office of Executive Council and has held the position of director of policy and planning for public service reform and the Public Service Commission. Ms. MacDonald was also coordinator for both the program review and regulatory reform processes and worked for a number of years with the former Department of Social Services in direct service delivery, training, planning and policy development.

Ms. MacDonald holds a bachelor of social work degree from Memorial University and a masters certificate in project management from York University.

Bruce Cooper
Bruce Cooper joined government in 1990 as a social worker with the Department of Social Services. In 1994 Mr. Cooper became the first executive director and registrar of the newly established regulatory body for social workers - the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Social Workers. In 1999 Mr. Cooper became the assistant executive director of Health and Community Services - St. John�s Region where he held senior management responsibility for a variety of client services as well as human resources and organizational development and planning. In this role he successfully led a variety of significant organizational change initiatives designed to improve the quality of client services and improve working conditions. Mr. Cooper returned to government in 2004 where he has worked with the Cabinet Secretariat of Executive Council, with responsibility for providing advice regarding a range of social and economic policy matters.

Mr. Cooper holds a bachelor and masters of social work from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has been an instructor with the School of Social Work since 1994 with a focus on policy and administration. Over his career Mr. Cooper has been involved in a variety of volunteer efforts; most recently as the vice-president of the Canadian Association of Social Workers.

Ann Chafe
Ms. Chafe has more than 20 years experience in senior management positions with the public sector in Newfoundland and Labrador and with the Government of Alberta. Her work has been highly concentrated in the fields of human resources, labour and employee relations and policy and planning. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Chafe has held numerous management positions within the Public Service Secretariat including director of collective bargaining, director of policy, planning and evaluation and most recently director of classification, organization and development.

Ms. Chafe is a graduate of Memorial University in social work and English, and has attended Queen's University, the University of Alberta, and the Banff School of Management.

2006 01 06                         3:00 p.m.