Sharon Watts
President and CEO

Sharon Watts was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission (HMIRC) on August 1, 2007.

Ms. Watts began her career in the Public Service of Canada in 1976, as a member of a task force mandated to establish a national planning process within the Consumer Products Branch Program, Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada. Over the next decade, she continued to work in strategic planning and reporting, establishing the first training program for inspectors and the first management information system to connect regional and national information needs.

She joined HMIRC in 1988 at the infancy of the agency. She was involved in both the development and implementation of the Operations and the Corporate Services and Adjudication Branches. Within two years, she was promoted to Director of Appeals and laid the foundations for HMIRC`s first appeals process. She later served as Director of Corporate Policy, Planning and Adjudications, and in 1999, was appointed Vice-President, Corporate Services and Adjudications Branch.

Ms. Watts has been instrumental in leading HMIRC and its stakeholders through a decade of change, which has included guiding important legislative amendments to the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (HMIRA) and Hazardous Materials Information Review Regulations (HMIRR) through to enactment. These legislative changes are intended to modernize and enhance HMIRC`s service delivery to clients and to expedite the provision of accurate health and safety information to workers.

Ms. Watts grew up in Mississauga, Ontario and originally came to Ottawa to attend Carleton University in the Honours Bachelor of Journalism program.