Vanguard Magazine

GAME CHANGER 44 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 www.vanguardcanada.com See the full interview online Q What is your role at your organization today? As President and CEO, I oversee the day-to-day operations of CNL, which includes Canada's national nuclear re- search program, the delivery of major environmental remediation projects, and the modernization of our main campus, the Chalk River Laboratories, which is a $1.2 billion program designed to revitalize the site, replacing old and outdated buildings with new, world- class facilities. But I am also spearheading trans- formational changes to improve the company's research practices, safety performance, security posture, capital program, and waste management activi- ties. And that is what I am truly passion- ate about in my current role – getting the most out of our people and capabili- ties to solve the problems that matter to Canadians. Q What was your most challenging moment? Over the course of my career, I have had many challenging moments, but leading CNL through the recent pandemic was certainly new territory for me. I was ac- tually relatively new to the position, and suddenly I found myself navigating a number of complex decisions to protect our staff while still accomplishing our goals as an organization. Fortunately, I was surrounded by an exceptional and very flexible team who were all willing to make the most of a difficult situation. We shifted a large seg- ment of our workforce to remote op- erations almost overnight, harnessed our resources to support public officials in the fight against COVID-19, and even increased productivity in some key areas. While it was a very challenging profes- sional experience, the pandemic did ac- celerate CNL's transition to more flex- ible operations and led to other positive changes to the way we conduct work. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? What gets me excited is solving the big challenges of our time. CNL is a very tal- ented research organization with a pro- found history in problem-solving and some of the most unique facilities and capabilities in the world. And part of our most recent transformation is figuring out how to best utilize these resources to Canada's benefit. Whether it is public health, clean energy, environmental remediation, or national security, our work is important to the future of this country. I spoke about SMRs, but we are also developing excit- ing technologies to fight cancer using a promising new medical isotope, Actin- ium-225. We are developing technolo- gies and techniques to better protect our borders. And we are carrying out some of the most complex environmen- tal clean-up missions ever undertaken in Canada. All of this work has me fired up. Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? Anyone who has served in the Navy knows just how important hard work and discipline are, so that experience has definitely served me very well, and those habits have played a role in my profes- sional success. But there are other good habits that I think are important if you want to be successful as the leader of an organization – surrounding yourself with right people, being open-minded, challenging your own decisions, and most of all, being ambitious in the objectives that you set for yourself. Q What are some of the biggest impediments to innovation in your industry sector? In general, a lot of people have fixed im- pressions when they hear the word 'nucle- ar,' and it can be difficult to have mean- ingful conversations about a variety of topics, whether it is the industry's safety record, nuclear waste, the many benefits of nuclear research and development, and the opportunities that could exist in the future if we continue to invest in nuclear science and technology. I personally try to be an open-minded per- son, and I would encourage anyone who has preconceived notions about this in- dustry to do so as well. I think they would be surprised at the many ways that this sector has positively touched their lives, and how many misconceptions they may have about what is a very safe technology. Q How has innovation become engrained in your organization's culture and how is it being optimized? As a research organization, we work very hard to nurture a spirit of innovation across the organization. One of the ways that we do that is by empowering our staff to bring their ideas forward, and we recently created mechanisms within the company to encourage employees to sub- mit their research proposals for consider- ation. I am pleased to say that our em- ployees have thrown themselves into this program, and many of these ideas have gone on to be funded. But it is also the nature of what we do as an organization – we are problem solv- ers. So, our customers often turn to us with challenging problems, and it is on us to solve them. These projects push the boundaries of what we are capable of, and it means that we are constantly growing as an organization, expanding our capabili- ties to meet the needs of the government and the private sector. JOE McBREARTY PRESIDENT & CEO CANADIAN NUCLEAR LABORATORIES

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