Our speaker for the March 5th Speaker's Evening is Ms Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister of the Department of National Defence who will speak about the implementation of Canada's new Defence Policy "Strong, Secure, Engaged".
Ms. Thomas has broad and varied experience working at senior levels in the Public Service. Prior to serving as Deputy Minister, she was the Senior Associate Deputy Minister for the Department of National Defence. Ms. Thomas began her career in the Public Service in 1988 when she was appointed Chief of Business Planning and Administration with Public Works and Government Services Canada’s Atlantic Region.
Ms. Thomas then moved to the West Coast as the Business Manager of the Esquimalt Graving Dock in Victoria, British Columbia. From 1995-2010, she joined Passport Canada where she served as Manager of the Victoria Passport Office. This led to a number of senior roles within the Passport Office, culminating in Chief Operating Officer, where she managed service delivery at 35 locations involving 3,000 employees across Canada.
In 2010, Ms. Thomas joined the Canadian Coast Guard where she held the position of Deputy Commissioner of Operations for four years, during which she provided leadership and functional direction in the development of the Coast Guard’s strategic and operational policy frameworks, monitored their implementation and ensured the strategic direction for the cost-effective delivery of Coast Guard programs. In September 2014, Ms. Thomas was appointed as Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Operations) at the Privy Council Office until her appointment as Commissioner of the Coast Guard on January 1, 2015. On March 13, 2017, she joined the Department of National Defence where she served as Senior Associate Deputy Minister.
Ms. Thomas currently holds a commission in the Navy (Naval Reserve). She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University
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