By Lisa Castle, Associate Vice-President, Human Resources.

On behalf of everyone in HR, I am excited to welcome the members of the Health  Promotions Programs unit into Human Resources.  While always part of my portfolio, the recent reorganization of the Department of Health, Safety and Environment will see HPP  transitioning into HR’s Total Compensation unit  under the leadership of Michelle Berner (Director, Total Compensation).

The reorganization of HSE was undertaken in order to better allow the university to increase its commitment to identify and manage risk across the organization. The new portfolio (including much of HSE, the Risk & Insurance group from Treasury, and the current staff from Risk Management) will report to Vice-President, Finance, Resources and Operations, Pierre Ouillet, and be headed by the university’s new Chief Risk Officer, Ron Holton. Mr. Holton helped UBC develop its existing risk management framework in 2009/10, and was most recently the Vice-President, Risk Management and Assurance Services, for VANOC.

While the transition period will be a challenging time for everyone, I believe that the end result of this reorganization will allow Human Resources and Risk Management to become stronger in their support of UBC’s Students, Faculty and Staff, and the organization generally.

I will miss my colleagues in the other units in Health, Safety and Environment, as they move into their new portfolio. We will continue to work together to move our portfolios forward, and I wish them every personal and professional success!