Kim Henderson Email and Phone Number

An independent consultant offering advisory and management services for both private sector clients (guidance in interactions with government, strategic advice) and public sector clients (strategy, policy advice, program reviews, implementation, governance and executive development).

In May of 2019 an independent panel of experts was appointed to review Alberta’s finances and economy. The resulting report represents the findings of the panel, also known as the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances or the MacKinnon Panel on Alberta's Finances.

I have extensive experience in senior public sector management in a career spanning 20 years. Most recently I served in the BC provincial government as the Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Public Service responsible for oversight of all aspects of government policy and operations. The role acts as the senior policy advisor to Cabinet and the Premier involving constant assessment of opportunities and risks in the formation and delivery of government’s agenda. Responsible fo building and managing the executive team of Deputy Ministers. As the Head of the Public Service, I oversaw the largest workforce in British Columbia at 28,000 and worked to ensure that the Government of BC had the policy, management and human resources capacity it needs to design and deliver high-quality programs and services to and for British Columbians. The BC Public Service is consistently recognized as a top employer in Canada and British Columbia and has won recognition for innovation in public sector workplace practices. I successfully oversaw the transition to a new administration during a historic period in BC politics.

From 2015 to 2016 I served as the Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to Treasury Board delivering a balanced budget, a $12B three-year capital plan and a steady economic growth forecast earning the Province a continued Triple-A credit rating. I was consistently recognized for meeting challenging budgets and targets and viewed as the key advisor on complex financial issues within a $48B organization. I led a team of over 1700 staff responsible for Provincial Treasury (borrowing and financing needs for government, crowns and public sector agencies), risk management, crown agency accountability system, provincial revenue, Comptroller General and Treasury Board Staff who develop and review economic, fiscal and tax policies for the province.

As the strategic lead for complex policies and initiatives in the Premier’s office, I led a core review of all public sector operations to ensure effective operations and governance. In this role I was tapped to lead other several high profile initiatives: I designed and led a successful public engagement initiative - BC’s Liquor Policy Review; I successfully designed and led the initiative to sell more than $500M in government surplus real estate assets; I was the strategic lead for the Office of the Premier on indigenous strategy and negotiations; I was also the Chair and financial authority for the team responsible for securing agreements to allow for the development of a Liquified Natural Gas industry in the Province.

Reporting to the Deputy Minister to the Premier and as the principle advisor to the Minister, provide leadership to a team of over 1800 staff who are responsible for the transformation and technology vision for the province, service delivery excellence to British Columbians, and the operations of Shared Services BC (the technology, real estate, and ‘back office’ functions of government) and strategic procurement for the public sector. Led the development of Gov 2.0: Citizens @ the Centre, the province’s first transformation and technology strategy; led the development and implementation of an open government agenda for British Columbia, the first Canadian province to do so, that included an overhaul of government’s web presence and implementation of DataBC; achieved the most significant and strategic amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act since the Act’s inception in 1992; negotiated a $1B strategic partnership agreement with Telus covering network services on behalf of the public sector, the first strategic relationship deal for the province; led the development of Workpoint, the province’s first strategic real estate plan. On Ministry operations, managed budget reductions ranging from 10 to 30 per cent while maintaining core services and at the same time achieved a 5 point gain in employee engagement from 2010 to 2011.

Reporting to the Deputy Minister to the Premier responsible for the development of the province’s first annual corporate human resource strategy covering 28 ministries and agencies and 30,000 employees.