A former senior executive of Agricore United has been named the newest member of the Canadian Grain Commission.
Murdoch MacKay, Agricore vicepresident of operations until it was taken over by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 2007, began his three-year term as commissioner Dec. 6.
On Dec. 2, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz also announced the reappointment of Jim Smolik as assistant chief commissioner for a three-year term.
MacKay replaces Cam Dahl, who did not apply for reappointment when his first term ended in the summer.
For 20 years, MacKay was vicepresident of terminal operations for United Grain Growers and Agricore. He is a former chair of the Terminal Elevators’ Association and has served on the boards of directors of both the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange and Prince Rupert Grain.
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Since 2007, MacKay has been president of Standoch International Inc., a consulting company that has assessed the viability of constructing an oilseed processing and biodiesel plant on the Prairies.
Ritz praised MacKay for a “long and distinguished career as a senior executive in Canada’s grain industry.”
Smolik, a former grain farmer from Dawson Creek, B.C., and president of Grain Growers of Canada, was first appointed to the commission in 2007.
Chief commissioner Elwin Hermanson, a former Beechy, Sask., grain farmer and one-term Reform MP, was appointed for a five-year term in early 2008.
