Lorne Johnson has fifteen years of experience in forging collaborative solutions to sustainability challenges in Canada's natural resource sectors. Lorne successfully coordinated the development of social and environmental standards for Canada's forest sector for the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) international eco-labeling system between 1996 and 2002 and established several FSC-focused partnerships between World Wildlife Fund (WW) and the forest sector. Lorne was one of the key facilitators in the two-year-long negotiations that led to the signing of the historical Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement in May 2010 and is now working on an initiative to develop social and environmental certification standards for Canada's aggregate sector.
In this interim period, and with the departure of Maia Becker, Vice President on maternity leave, the board of directors is playing a more direct role in organizational management, with Lorne focusing on strategic planning, fundraising and stakeholder relations. And, of course, the FSC Canada staff will continue to move our work forward on a day-to-day basis.
As we look to the future, our primary focus now is on securing new leadership and funding for the organization. To that end, we have enlisted an executive recruiter and are beginning a nationwide search for the right visionary leader to build on FSC Canada's strengths and grow the organization and its reach.
Every change brings opportunity. And it is through this lens that we are looking to the future, charting the course for FSC Canada with optimism and commitment to our mission. We will continue sharing updates and encourage you to share your thoughts with us.