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Profile - Darryl Embury
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My Career
At the age of sixteen I fell in love with the food industry while working in a dairy plant as a summer student. I decided then and there to pursue a university education that would provide me with a career in food. In 1980, armed with a microbiology degree, I landed a job in the meat industry in Alberta. Here's how my career evolved:
Current Position
Title: Regional Director, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Programs, Manitoba and Saskatchewan Region
Currently: Acting National Director, Drug Analysis Service
Education: Bachelor of Science, Master of Food Science
Number of Years in the Workforce: 30
Number of Years at Health Canada: 28
My Experience at Health Canada
Since becoming the Regional Director of the Healthy Environment and Consumer Safety Branch at Health Canada, I have been very fortunate to have a large number of assignments in other roles. Some have been at my group and level, others higher, but all have been challenging and interesting. I am no longer a food regulator but I feel that I continue to have a vital role in protecting the health of Canadians. I don't know if all my career moves are done.
Across the wide range of our programs we use a myriad of tools, techniques, processes and approaches to deliver on the protection, promotion, prevention and regulation of the public health for our fellow citizens. It is both an honour and a duty that I take very seriously. I consider public service to be more of a calling than an occupation, and I strongly recommend it. Working for Health Canada gives one a real, tangible opportunity to make a difference in the health and safety of Canadians every day.
I like variety and new challenges in my work, and I think that my career path shows that. I've rarely spent more than 5 years in any one role. Working at Health Canada as the Regional Director of the Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch continues to provide me with these new challenges.
Career Timeline
| Job Profile | The Story |
|---|---|
| 1975 - 1980
Summer Student |
My first summer job, which evolved into 5 years of summer and year-round part time work. This job helped lead to my decision to work in the food industry. |
| 1980 - 1982
Management trainee Responsibilities
|
My first post-university job. I had several roles, the most interesting being Sausage Formulator where daily I wrote the recipes for thousands of pounds of wieners, bologna and other processed meats.
This was a huge jump for me. I was quitting my first permanent job, leaving a booming economy in Alberta and moving back to Manitoba in a recession. I was also joining the civil service, about which I knew nothing except for negative stereotypes. The company I worked for though was losing money, and the factory in which I worked closed less than a year after I left it. |
| 1982-1987
District Officer, Food and Drug Inspector |
My first government job. I worked in a one-inspector office with a half-time secretary.
This was a time of significant professional and personal growth for me. I learned all of the technical details of how to be an inspector, but also learned a great deal about working with people, from large companies to private citizens. These lessons have proved very valuable throughout my career. |
| 1987 - 1988
Food Microbiology Specialist |
My first promotion in the civil service, into a newly created position. |
| 1988-1995
Auditor, Food Processing |
This job represented another newly created position.
As an Auditor I worked in a new role within a brand new program. I no longer specifically inspected food plants for their compliance with federal law. Instead I audited how other federal departments performed their regulatory responsibilities in food plants. It was my first real taste of helping to design and grow a program and I liked it. It put all of my technical and people skills to a real test. I also completed a five year, part-time Master of Food Science program at the University of Manitoba during this time - sponsored by Health Canada. |
| 1995-1996
Chief, Inspection Division |
My first management position.
Here I moved from a technical role to management, how hard could that be? |
| 1996-1998
Chief, Food Inspection Division |
In 1996 I decided to transfer into a newly created agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
New agency, new culture, new colleagues... and having to deliver our program too! I have often described my early years at CFIA as like designing a boat, building the boat and crossing a river all at the same time; it was challenging, invigorating, demanding and more. |
| 1998-2001
Regional Director, Manitoba Region |
My first executive position. |
| 2001- present
Regional Director, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Manitoba and Saskatchewan Region |
In 2001 I became the first Regional Director in the newly created Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch.
A new Branch and six new programmes to deliver. This job provided me with a learning curve that continues until today. |
