He never ran for election, he didn’t speak to the media and most grain farmers have probably never heard of him.
But the resignation of Canadian Wheat Board director James Stanford has left his former colleagues lamenting his departure.
They say the agency and prairie grain farmers will be the poorer as a result.
“I would regard him as one of the founding fathers of this new, modern board of directors,” said CWB board chair Ken Ritter. “I’m very saddened to see him leave.”
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Stanford, president and chief executive officer of Petro-Canada, was appointed to a three-year term on the board in December 1999.
He resigned March 1 after accepting an appointment to another government agency. Federal rules required him to step down from his CWB position.
Through a spokesperson, Stanford declined to make any comment on his resignation or his tenure as a CWB director.
However, two directors interviewed last week were effusive in praising his contributions during the first two years of operation of the revamped board.
Stanford was appointed largely to pass on to the farmers elected to the board his knowledge of how to run a multi-billion dollar corporation.
“We started with a blank page,” said Ritter. “We were a lot of rookies and he’s the person who set us on the track that allows our organization to compete with any in this country.”
Director Ian McCreary said Stanford brought to the table expertise in how a board of directors can set strategic goals for an organization and how it can direct management to ensure those goals are achieved.
He said the notion of corporate governance — with its terms of empowerment, engagement and process — may seem bureaucratic and far removed from the day-to-day concerns of grain farmers.
But the board can’t do its job of getting the best possible prices for farmers unless it’s functioning smoothly and efficiently.
“I was just amazed at how much difference it makes when you get the process right,” he said. “It just improved the dynamics and the flow and the amount of work we did dramatically.”
It will be up to CWB minister Ralph Goodale to appoint a replacement, although the board is expected to ask him to appoint someone with a similar set of skills as Stanford.
