Rocky View County’s new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dorian Wandzura will join the administrative team on May 2, after the municipality announced his hiring by council in a March 22 press release.
“I've had a passion for public service for years, and spent most of my career in public service,” Wandzura said in an interview with the Rocky View Weekly.
The opportunity to help support council's focus on service delivery excellence, promote transparency, create a high-performing culture, and engage with people in the region appealed to him, he said.
“The opportunities that are in front of the County were really attractive to me – they're impactful,” Wandzura noted. “The things that council wants to achieve to make a real difference in the lives of citizens and within the region, I just felt it was a great opportunity to be part of that.”
The designated engineer and operations professional has held senior administrative positions with several municipalities in Saskatchewan and Alberta throughout his career, including Yorkton, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Regina, and Edmonton.
He stepped down from his position with the City of Edmonton as a member of the municipality's senior leadership team in 2016 to become partner of his own consulting company, LadderUp Consulting Ltd. The company focuses on helping municipal government and nonprofit organizations to develop strategy, implement strategy, and create their vision.
“Over the last five years, I've been a partner at a consulting company, which has been fantastic,” Wandzura said. “It allowed me to really leverage some of the skills I've honed over my career and share them with others across the country.”
In that role, he said he worked with boards and councils to hone their governance and oversight rules and regulations.
“We do work across the country in terms of policy development, service delivery excellence, and service reviews,” he said.
Wandzura is currently located in Edmonton, but he plans to move to Rocky View County when he takes on his position in May.
Throughout the years of working for different cities and municipalities, he said he found every organization to be unique and likes to approach any new role by first understanding the organization better.
Through a 90-day approach, he said he hopes to engage with the organization and the issues surrounding the community, regional partners, and local stakeholders.
“I tend to make an active outreach to really bring the outside in to form my thinking on where we can go next,” he said.
Part of his research into the CAO role and what got him excited about joining RVC’s administrative team were the issues facing the County and reading about what council wants to achieve, particularly around service excellence, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.
“My leadership style is all about being engaged with the organization and the community,” he said. “In my view, municipal governments exist to serve citizens, do it in a transparent way, do it in a way that invites input and engagement as well as [not be] afraid to tell our story.”
According to Wandzura, highly engaged and innovative organizations clearly outperform others, and he believes there's a great staff environment at RVC that he would like to be a part of.
“[I want to] help continue to build on that highly engaged culture,” he said.
He looks forward to having real direct conversations within the organization, as well as with the community and stakeholders in order to form his opinion on future opportunities for RVC.
Wandzura replaces long-serving RVC employees Byron Riemann and Kent Robinson, who each served in the CAO's seat on an interim basis following the resignation of former CAO Al Hoggan in early 2021. Riemann is the County's executive director of operations, while Robinson serves as the County's executive director of corporate services.
In the County’s news release, Mayor Don Kochan stated council is excited to work with their new hire.
“Mr. Wandzura has a solid understanding of leadership and local government best practices along with the right mix of education and hands-on experience. We have great confidence in the future of Rocky View County as Mr. Wandzura joins our skilled and robust administrative team,” Kochan said.
