Michelle d’Auray has enjoyed an interesting career in the public sector. In 1990, she entered the public sector with the National Film Board of Canada and just 10 years later, ended up as the CIO for the Government of Canada.
“I had been working for a non-profit advocacy organization representing artists, arts organizations and cultural industries – where I had been engaged in changing legislation and polices at the federal level – when I was approached by the National Film Board,” d’Auray said. “It seemed like a natural extension of what I had been doing – promoting Canadian artists and their works – and it went from there.”
Now, as the nation’s CIO, d’Auray is responsible for leading and coordinating the Government of Canada’s online and service improvement strategies.
“That means working very closely with departments and agencies on the development of online services, a government-wide secure infrastructure and e-services platform,” she said. In addition, d’Auray works on policies and standards, communications and feedback strategies, and human resources frame-works for the IT, IM and service delivery professionals of the government.
As for challenges, d’Auray said choosing the right strategies to effect real change in the way Canadians are served by the government, and promoting those services to the public, are two of the most daunting tasks she faces.
“We are in unknown territory most of the time – inventing and innovating as we go,” she said. “As for promoting our online service offerings – we don’t do enough to tell people how much they can do online with us. And when they do find out, they’re quite amazed.”
Reflecting on the successes she has achieved in her current role, d’Auray said she is most proud of the relationships and trust she has established with those across government who are responsible for making the Government On-Line/Service Improvement initiative work.
“That and seeing that Canada is consistently rated within the top three countries in the world for our GOL initiative,” she said. “The top rating would not have happened without the teams, the relationships and the trust.”