Northern Development Initiative Trust's chief executive officer is about to retire.
Janine North, who has been organization's CEO since its inception, will step down this fall, NDIT said Wednesday in a statement.
"Janine's retirement is one I accept with mixed emotions," NDIT chair Evan Saugstad said.
"I'm sad to see someone with her experience, desire and leadership skills leaving the Trust, while at the same time I'm happy and supportive of her decision to retire and begin experiencing life where work isn't one's main focus in life."
NDIT's board of directors will begin work on finding a replacement at its next meeting in April. North has committed to staying on until a newcomer has been hired and to work with her successor during the transition.
The economic development corporation began operating in 2005 with $185 million. Of that $135 million came out of the proceeds from the $1-billion B.C. Rail deal and just prior to the 2005 B.C. election, the provincial government added another $50 million in the name of easing the impact of the mountain pine beetle infestation.
Its capital base now stands at more than $250 million and it's since provided $142 million in funding for more than 2,000 projects throughout central and northern B.C. It has been enough to leverage $1.2 billion in new investment to the region, according to NDIT numbers.
North is retiring to spend more time with her family and friends, NDIT said.
"The development of the Trust as a sustainable cornerstone of this region's development has been a life work for me; rewarding, challenging, exhilarating and humbling, and I treasure the relationships and friends that I have gained," North said in the statement.
"I have been honoured to work with passionate leaders who invest in making our communities even better places to live, work and raise our families. We have demonstrated together that the best economic and community development decisions are made in the north."
Prior to taking on the job, North had chaired the Nechako-Kitamaat Development Fund board for two years.
The NKDF came out of the deal to cancel the Kemano Completion Project in 1997 -- both the province and Alcan contributed $7.5 million to the fund designed to provide financial support for economic development projects from Vanderhoof to Kitimat.
While there were plenty of similarities between the two funds, there was one major difference.
"A larger scale, certainly more diversity in terms of communities but a huge opportunity," North said at the time she took on the new position.
A graduate of the University of Alberta, where she earned a bachelor of science, as well as a diploma in management studies from Simon Fraser University, North had lived in the Central Interior for 22 years by the time she became NDIT's CEO.
From 1999 to 2003 she was the district forest manager in Fort St. James and from 2003 to 2005 she was the general manager of the KDL Group in Fort St. James, where she restructured the companies over the two-year period.
North will continue to serve on the BC Hydro and ViaSport boards of directors.
