A former provincial and federal public servant specializing in the ag industry and economic development will be the new executive director at the George Morris Centre.
The Guelph-based agriculture think tank announced Monday it has hired Bob Seguin away from his role as assistant deputy minister (ADM) of intergovernmental affairs at Ontario’s provincial cabinet office.
Seguin worked in the cabinet office for all of 2009, where his projects included work on the recent Ontario/Quebec Economic Co-operation Agreement.
“Bob’s expertise in economic development, and his leadership in designing and implementing public, agricultural and food, and trade policies will be of tremendous benefit as he directs the centre’s economic and policy research activities,” the centre said in a release.
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“His comprehensive economic knowledge, experience, and depth of understanding of issues facing the agri-products sector made him the ideal candidate,” centre board member Jean Szkotnicki, who chaired the recruitment process, said in the same release.
Before joining the cabinet office, Seguin worked from 2000 to 2008 as ADM for industry in Ontario’s ministry of economic development and trade. From 1993 to 2000 he was an ADM at the province’s ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs (OMAFRA), a ministry where he’d worked since 1983.
Seguin, who has a master’s degree in ag economics from the University of Guelph, also previously worked for the federal agriculture department from 1977 to 1980, where his work included regulatory oversight and market development of identified milk and dairy products in Ontario and Manitoba.