Pulse Canada is setting sail in a new direction that will no longer require the services of its captain.
A little over one year after stepping into the role as president of the national grower association, Les Rankin is stepping down in what has been described as a mutual parting of the ways.
The chair of Pulse Canada said they have eliminated the president’s job and will be creating a chief executive officer position that will be filled before year’s end.
Germain Dauk said Rankin is a casualty of a fundamental shift in philosophy.
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“We decided to change our mandate – move away from market development into policy and research.”
He said Rankin’s expertise is in marketing, not the other two areas and that’s why he agreed to resign.
“It wasn’t a firing by any means. It wasn’t acrimonious.”
Rankin concurs.
“We’re leaving on exceptionally good terms,” he said during an Aug. 9 telephone interview from his Winnipeg home, one day after leaving the place he referred to as “a fine organization.”
Dauk said the reason for the shift at Pulse Canada was an overlap in market development activities.
“It seemed that we were stepping on the toes of the trade people.”
The grower group’s new role will be to concentrate on policy issues such as pesticide harmonization and reducing tariffs, as well as co-ordinating research efforts and gathering market intelligence. Market development will be less than one-third of the organization’s agenda.
Dauk said the change has been in the works for more than two years but the new vision didn’t become clear until the last six months. That’s about six months after they hired Rankin.
“In retrospect maybe that was unfair to him because we were in a change, but we just didn’t recognize it.”
Some people say the change is the result of friction between various organizations in the pulse industry, especially between Pulse Canada and the Canadian Special Crops Association, which represents the trade.
Dauk admits there may have been tension in the past but said that has been erased with the change in direction at Pulse Canada.
“In the past six months things have gone really well,” he said.
“With our new mandate and the way we’re doing business now, I think there’s a great deal of harmony. This is a team and we’ve got to work together.”
He said the void left by Rankin’s departure will be filled by vice-president Gordon Bacon and program manager Theresa Le until a CEO can be hired before the end of the year.
Rankin said he is looking for another international marketing or senior management position in the grain, feed or oilseed crushing industries. In the meantime, he may do some contract work through the small consulting company he owns.
