A series of changes to the senior administrative level were announced by Premier Robert Ghiz today.
“The new members of the team bring unique perspectives and skills sets from various walks of life and I am confident they will make a major contribution to Prince Edward Island,” Premier Ghiz said.
The following appointments were approved by Executive Council earlier this week:
• Sharon Cameron -- Deputy Minister, Social Services and Seniors
• Tracey Cutcliffe -- Deputy Minister, Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour
• Michael Mayne -- Deputy Minister, Office of Biosciences and Economic Innovation
Former Deputy Minister of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour Ron MacMillan will assume the position of Chief Negotiator, Labour Market Development and Infrastructure, to support the government’s ongoing negotiations with the federal government over major funding agreements. Former Deputy Minister of Social Services and Seniors, Jeanette MacAulay will be going to the University of Prince Edward Island on an executive interchange.
BACKGROUNDER
Sharon Cameron -- Deputy Minister, Social Services and Seniors:
Sharon Cameron received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Sociology from Dalhousie University in 1983. In 1985, she received an Honours Degree in Psychology from the same institution, followed in 1986 by a Masters of Education Degree in Educational Psychology, also from Dalhousie.
Most recently, Cameron has served as principal at Stonepark Intermediate School in Charlottetown, a position she held since 2003. She served as vice-principal at that school from 2001-2003 and held the same position from 1999-2001 at Tracadie Cross Consolidated School, where she also taught and provided counselling services.
Cameron was employed as the Youth Services Coordinator with the Department of Education from 1997-1999 where she coordinated and provided administration to five alternative education programs across the province. During this time, she also co-chaired a federal-provincial youth employment strategy committee.
Between 1994 and 1997, Cameron worked as a Youth Services Consultant with the Department of Education and the Health and Community Services Agency. She began her career in 1987 as a school counsellor with the former Unit 2 School Board.
Tracey Cutcliffe -- Deputy Minister, Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour:
Tracey Cutcliffe is a lawyer, holding memberships to both the Prince Edward Island Law Society and the Nova Scotia Barristers Society. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Cape Breton University in 1987 and her Bachelor of Laws Degree from Dalhousie Law School in 1990. Following Law School, she practised with Sampson MacDougall, a law firm in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Tracey Cutcliffe has worked directly for First Nations for the past fifteen years, first in Saskatchewan and, since 1996, in Prince Edward Island. She was key in the conceptualization and, in 2002, the implementation of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI, a tribal organization serving the two PEI Mi’kmaq First Nations. Since 2002, she has served as Executive Director of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI and Senior Advisor to the PEI Mi’kmaq First Nations.
Tracey Cutcliffe resides in West Royalty with her husband Philip and two daughters.
Michael B. Mayne, Ph.D. -- Deputy Minister, Office of Biosciences and Economic Innovation:
Michael Mayne graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science focused in basic cellular biology. He continued his education at the University of Toronto, where he received a PhD in molecular biology and protein biochemistry in 1995. Dr. Mayne trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba and furthered his training at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
Dr. Mayne joined the University of Manitoba in the faculty of medicine in 2000, where he focused on neurological-based disorders, specifically neurodegenerative disorders. In 2003, he was recruited by the National Research Council of Canada to direct the newly formed Institute for Nutrisciences and Health. He was charged with designing and directing the research programs and has played an instrumental role in the rapid development of the emerging PEI biosciences cluster.
Dr. Mayne currently holds an academic appointment of Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Manitoba and an Adjunct Professor appointment in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at UPEI.
He has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award in 2002. He currently holds multiple independent research grants from the CIHR, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, and the AstraZeneca/Alzheimer’s Society of Canada Industry Award.