TJ Schur to lead IAF

A new CEO has been hired to lead the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.

TJ Schur will be the organization’s new CEO starting March 1, IAFBC announced February 3. She succeeds Michelle Koski, who left the organization at the end of January to become an assistant deputy minister in the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Schur brings an extensive resume to her new role, including senior management experience and leadership roles in not-for-profits, the agriculture sector, and provincial government.

She was most recently with the BC Ministry of Energy Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, where she served on the Indigenous Clean Energy Opportunities Initiative and as director, strategic initiatives, with the Columbia River Treaty negotiating team.

In addition, Schur has experience in the hazelnut sector as a facilitator of recovery from Eastern Filbert Blight. She was director, external relations with renewable energy developer Aeolis Wind Power Corp. and has been a consultant and served on community boards.

“I look forward to working with IAF’s board of directors, member organizations, the staff, and all other stakeholders in BC for the betterment of food security in this province,” says Schur in the press release announcing her appointment. “IAF has a reputation of excellence in program delivery. I’m eager to join the team and forge new partnerships and collaborations with BC’s diverse and world-class agriculture, agri-food and seafood sectors.”

Schur will take helm as the five-year Canadian Agricultural Partnership winds down and transitions to the new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, which is set to be in place April 1. It will run through 2028.

Most of IAF’s programs are now closed for applications, but new projects will be announced once funding is renewed under the new policy framework, IAF senior program manager Alana Wilson told producers attending the Islands Agriculture Show, February 3-4.

Speaking at the BC Agriculture Gala in Abbotsford on January 25, Francis Drouin, parliamentary secretary to federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said work towards the bilateral agreement with BC for the new policy framework were progressing.

“Movements towards that have been positive and programs will be available post-April 1,” he says.