Joan Burgess is trading in one role in New Westminster for another.
Burgess will retire as the city’s director of human resources in January 2017, a post she’s held since June 2008.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience for me working here,” she told the Record. “The funny thing is I just moved to New West in May - commuting from the North Shore all these years and then finally I move.”
Burgess is currently renting, but is buying a condo in the Royal City.
“So soon I’ll be a taxpayer. I am really pleased,” she said. “As a resident, you sort of get a very different perspective and I am loving it here.”
Burgess expects the city will go into “recruiting mode” later this fall to fill her position. Her retirement comes after 30 years in the human resources field, which has included stints as a vice president of human resources in the private sector and as the director of human resources for the Vancouver Public Library.
“There have been huge changes. It has really been a wonderful profession to be in; it has been really satisfying. I can be glib and say, 'Because ‘I am working with people, I love people’ but it’s not so much that but human resources and labour relations has really been moving in a positive direction,” she said. “The profession has truly become a strategic partner on the management team, and you can really be engaged with what’s going on in the organization and you can really build positive relationships. And that is what gets things done. That’s very exciting. I find that really rewarding.”
And just what are Burgess’s retirement plans?
“I’ll consult – and play golf,” she laughed.
