Managing Information in a Modern OPS

Marianne Nikolic is a policy advisor with the Office of the Chief Information and Privacy Officer, Ministry of Government Services. Marianne has been with the Ministry since 2004, and has worked on several initiatives, most notably, the e-Ontario Strategy, the IM Strategy, and the IM Framework which was jointly developed by MGS and the Information Management Enterprise Directions (IMED) team – a cross-cluster team that helped set direction for IM across the OPS.

Guy Herriges is Manager of Strategy and Policy with the Office of the Chief Information and Privacy Officer, Ontario Ministry of Government Services, where he is currently focused on improving information management practices across the public service. Guy has 20 years of experience in information access and privacy as a policy manager and advisor within the Ontario government. In his previous role as Manager of Access and Privacy, Guy also led the development and implementation of Ontario’s Lobbyists Registration Act. Prior to joining the Ontario government in 1987, Guy was the Assistant Director of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission where he directed Human Rights Code investigations across the province.

(awaiting bio)

Karen Rodman is the Director of Service Management Branch at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This includes responsibility for ministry corporate business services as well as information management and privacy and emergency management. Karen has 23 years experience with OPS in program, policy and corporate positions. Karen has taken keen interest throughout her career at looking at information as a critical asset of the government. Karen holds a Masters in Rural Extension Studies.

Heidi Ritscher is the Corporate Services Manager in the Information Management and Access Branch at the Ministry of the Environment. This includes responsibility for Information Management strategic priorities identified in the ministry’s IM Vision and Road Map, Recorded Information Management, and IT Service Management. Heidi has been with the OPS for 4 ½ years and previously worked for the Archives of Ontario as Team Leader, Customer Service and for the Royal Ontario Museum in the Office of the Vice President, Collections and Research. Heidi holds a Master of Science degree in Archaeology from the University of Toronto.

Peter Hope-Tindall is a former special advisor to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario for biometrics and cryptography, where he conducted privacy audits and assessments and monitored the development of large government systems having a significant privacy component. He recently joined the Ministry of Government Services in the ServiceOntario Privacy Office, leading a team of privacy professionals conducting privacy impact assessments, and designs privacy architecture and develops privacy policy and advice.

His current research interests include the development of an effective privacy metric to allow objective choices to be made and options considered within a given system design, while providing a framework for establishing the ongoing effectiveness of privacy policies and technology, post implementation.

John D. Gregory is General Counsel in the Policy Division, Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario). After clerking for the Chief Justice of Canada, he was called to the Bar in 1977. He practised commercial law with Wright & McTaggart in Toronto until 1985, when he joined the provincial government.

He chaired the working groups of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada that produced the Uniform Electronic Evidence Act and the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act, both widely adopted across the country, including in Ontario. From 1997 through 2005 he was a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group on electronic commerce, which recently produced the Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

He is a director of the Information Technology Lawyers Association of Canada (IT.Can) and a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada and of the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology. He co-chairs with Michael Geist the Subcommittee on Internet Jurisdiction and Global E-commerce of the Cyberspace Committee of the American Bar Association (Section of Business Law).

Rizwan has an extensive background in technology and business management, including managing large initiatives in Canada, the USA, the UK and Dubai as VP, Information Technologies and Projects with a Canadian company. He has managed an email migration for the Toronto Dominion Bank across Toronto and offices in the Far East, Europe and Asia; developed and implemented information security audit policies for the Toronto Dominion Bank; implemented COBIT/ITIL frameworks; and developed security governance and policies for both business and Information Technology.

He has a broad range of experience including formulating technology strategies, project management, operations management and managing software development in the municipal, banking and telecom sectors.

Doug is currently responsible for the Business Solutions Services unit that provides I&IT planning and application design, development and maintenance to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. In this role Doug works with ministry clients and program units on identifying and deploying I&IT solutions that will provide automated solutions to meet their business and information needs and enable business process improvement and transformation. He has also been working with the LRC client ministries to develop the Information Management Program for the Land and Resources Cluster.

Greg Robinson is the Information Management & Privacy Coordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). He is responsible for project managing IM-related initiatives, chairs the ministry’s IM Working Group, and is the ministry’s FOI Coordinator. Greg has more than 20 years of communications, IM and project management experience. Prior to joining OMAFRA in August 2006, he was Team Lead, E-Communications in the Public Affairs unit for an agency of the MoF.

As Recorded Information Management Coordinator for the Children, Youth and Social Services I&IT Cluster, Chris strives to meet the records and information management needs of his clients, the ministries of Community & Social Services and Children & Youth Services.
Chris is enjoying a career that started as a junior records officer doing line and keystroke counts to justify the purchase of word processors, to recently evaluating Records & Document Management Systems for a ministry pilot project. Working in a variety of capacities, has taken him to a number of different ministries, but the focus is always information and records.

Andre Breau is currently the Manager of Information Management and Privacy with the Ministry of Labour. He has been with the Ontario Public Service for the past 9 years and has an extensive background in Communications, Issues Management and provincial access and privacy. As that ministry's lead for Information Management, Andre has contributed to laying much of the foundation in the ministry's efforts to implement a well-coordinated and disciplined approach to Information Management.

Andre lives in Toronto with his family, and is an enthusiastic runner who has competed in numerous marathons in the past several years.

Jane Toppozini is an Information Management and Geomatic Service Coordinator with the Ministry Of Natural Resources (MNR) in the North East (NE) Region. Jane has worked in the OPS for 25+ years, the last 10 years have been dedicated to Information Management. She coordinates the NE MNR Regional Information and Geomatic activities, and manages one of the three cost recovery Geomatic Service Centers (GSCN) operated by MNR for the Land Resources Cluster and OPS. Her favourite IM projects involve the mining of historic information, giving it new a digital life and potential spatial capabilities.

Mike Anderson is the Head of I&IT Controllership Branch at the Ministry of Government Services. This includes responsibility for providing advice to Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet related to government I&IT investments as well as I&IT performance measurement and reporting. Mike has 24 years experience with OPS in corporate, operational and project management positions. Mike is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).

Dr. Mark Vale was appointed the Ontario government's first Chief Information and Privacy Officer in July 2006. He leads the development and implementation of information management strategies that support sound business practices, build capacity across the government, and make access to information and privacy fundamental business considerations.

Before joining the Ontario Public Service, Mark was President of Information Management & Economics, Inc. working with governments and companies across Canada to help them become more efficient by effectively managing information and knowledge resources.

Mark is an information economist and has more than 25 years experience in information policy, information strategy and planning, and implementing corporate information and knowledge management programs. He is one of North America's leaders in shaping the information and knowledge management disciplines and has taught at the University of Alberta, York University, Stanford University and California State University.

Born in Toronto, Mark received his MA in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD from Stanford University.

Brian Maloney is the Director of the Geographic Information Branch for the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). His Branch provides service related to geographic information for MNR and has a leadership role for the OPS through Land Information Ontario. The branch provides leadership for information management in the ministry.

Previously, Brian was the Head, Information Management Services for the Land and Resources Cluster and co-lead for the Information Management Enterprise Directions (IMED) project, which helped set directions for information management across the OPS.

Stephen Rhodes assumed the position of Assistant Deputy Attorney General for the Corporate Services Management Division in April 2002.

Stephen has responsibility for the Ministry’s strategic support services including business and fiscal planning, human resources, facilities management, internal audit, French language services (FLS), Freedom of Information (FOI) and Privacy, and quality services/knowledge management. He is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Ministry.

The Division is also responsible for the provision of strategic support and services to justice cluster ministries in the areas of FLS, FOI and Privacy and quality service / knowledge management.

In addition, Stephen is the (Acting) Assistant Deputy Attorney General for the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat (OVSS.) The OVSS provides leadership across the OPS in policy development, program design and frontline service delivery for victims of crime.

Stephen joined the Ministry in June 1998, first as the Manager of the Fiscal Planning Unit, and then commencing January, 2002 as the Director of the Business and Fiscal Planning Branch and Chief Financial Officer. Over this period Stephen has championed increased cross-cluster fiscal planning and worked to strengthen the controllership and business planning capacity within the Ministry.

Prior to joining the Ministry, Stephen was a Senior Analyst with the Program Management and Estimates Division at Management Board Secretariat where his portfolio included the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Stephen started his career in the OPS in 1990 at the then Ministry of Housing and held a number of varied policy positions.

Stephen holds a Master of Science in Planning from the University of Toronto, an Honours BA in Geography from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario – Ivey School of Business – Executive Development Program.

Jim Lewis is the Director of Information Management and Access for Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment. This branch is staking new ground in a number of areas including implementing a ministry-wide information management strategy with an emphasis on improving integration and accessibility of ministry records and data for both staff and the public.
Jim is the ministry’s executive lead for the Environmental Bill of Rights. In this capacity his office recently completed refreshing Ontario’s Environmental Registry, an on-line tool for citizen engagement on environmental issues. Other key responsibilities include: leading the ministry’s Freedom of Information program which processes more than 6,000 access requests a year; managing the Ministry’s Information Resource Centre, a virtual information service for ministry staff; and managing the ministry's French Services translation and program.