The BC Lottery Corporation says it is actively recruiting to fill several executive vacancies in both Kamloops and Vancouver.
It’s after concerns were raised to NL News about the lack of senior BCLC leadership living and working in Kamloops in the recent months.
“The new CEO is supposed to be temporary but no one here believes that. All three of these positions, the CEO, CFO and VP of Human Resources, were in Kamloops and now they are all in Vancouver,” said an unnamed employee at BCLC in Kamloops to Radio NL via email.
Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone says he questions the commitment from BCLC to keep its senior executives in the city.
“I find it very hard to believe that a multi-billion dollar corporation would find it this difficult to actually recruit people to what are very good paying jobs,” he said on NL Newsday. “You need to have your executives here, and you need to have a good complement of board members from here, and you need to make sure that you are actually growing the employee base here in Kamloops.”
In a statement, BCLC says its Interim CFO, Tom Kay, is currently based in Kamloops, while the Interim President and CEO, Greg Moore, divides his time between Kamloops and Vancouver. Moore took over after President and CEO Jim Lightbody announced he’ll be going on medical leave of absence after being diagnosed with cancer.
Stone says it appears BCLC is “seemingly in a state of disarray.”
“They’ve gone from a place of having a majority of those senior leaderships positions based here in Kamloops, and we keep hearing this frustrating claim from BC Lotteries that they are having trouble recruiting people to actually come and work in Kamloops, and we just find that absolutely absurd.” he added. “That wasn’t the case several years ago.”
“The government has an obligation to make sure that the President and CEO, the CFO, the Vice President of Human Resources, and the Chief Information Officer at minimum, that those postings are filled with people who live here in Kamloops.”
Speaking on the Jeff Andreas Show, the province’s Attorney General wanted to calm any worries about BCLC jobs in Kamloops.
David Eby says he understands the concerns that have been raised, but adds its important for him to reassure Kamloopsians that the government is committed to BCLC being an important corporate cornerstone in Kamloops.
“The MLAs, Todd Stone and Peter Milobar are out there saying ‘well this means that the government’s not committed to Kamloops.’ Absolutely not true,” Eby said. “We’ve increased the number of employees at Kamloops. The only reason that there has been a significant change at the top at BC Lottery Corporation is because of a significant illness to Jim Lightbody.”
Eby says an executive search team has also been hired to recruit candidates to Kamloops to work in more permanent roles.
BCLC Spokesperson Lara Gerrits in an email to Radio NL says as of the end of August, BCLC had 462.4 FTE of staff working at it’s Kamloops office, and 355.8 FTE in the Vancouver office. Gerrits says in 2016, there were 419.3 FTE staff working in Kamloops and 320.7 FTE in Vancouver.
“People in the government are also telling us about rumors of a big announcement,” said the unnamed employee to Radio NL in the same email. “The casino division and about 300 jobs are going to be moved from BCLC to the regulator GPEB in Victoria. We are hearing this is going to be dressed up as something to do with money laundering but that’s just cover. We are scared many of us are going to have to decide between moving to Victoria or being forced out of our jobs here in Kamloops.”
Gerrits says those allegations of jobs moving to Victoria are “categorically incorrect.”
“Our recruitment practice has been, and continues to be, to post career opportunities based on the requirements of the role and the business,” she said. “BCLC has enjoyed 34 years of success in Kamloops and we look forward to many more in the downtown core. With a focus on ensuring strong, stable leadership into the future, we are committed to an executive complement at both offices that remains consistent.”
Gerrits noted that while while recruitment continues for a permanent Vice President of Human Resources, BCLC has engaged the expertise of John Leeburn, who is providing consulting services on a part-time, temporary basis.”
“Similarly, existing BCLC Vice Presidents Kevin Gass (Lottery Gaming) and Brad Desmarais (Casino and Community Gaming), are acting in dual roles as Interim Vice Presidents for Social Responsibility and Communications; and Legal, Security, Compliance & Chief Compliance Officer, respectively.,” Gerrits said.
Eby says he expects to have a permanent leadership team in place once Jim Lightbody returns to work, though a date for his return is not immediately clear.
“It’s challenging,” he said. “We have a situation where the CEO is out on an extended leave for health reasons and when you’re trying to hire an executive it is not really ideal to have an interim CEO do all the hiring of an executive team that maybe works for him, but may not work for the CEO that is on leave.”
These allegations come 11 months after BCLC announced it is deferring plans for a new expanded headquarters in Kamloops following concerns that were raised by MLA’s Stone and Milobar.
– With files from Jeff Andreas
