Daniel Ferrimond · Chief Human Resources Officer · Canada
My contribution to a board would be informed scepticism about the workforce behind a plan. In construction and related industries, strategies often assume that the necessary people will be available because they have been available before. That is no longer safe. I can help directors test whether a growth plan, an acquisition or a bid pipeline has realistic assumptions about the trades and supervisors it needs, what it costs to develop them and how quickly they leave. I can read labour agreements and workforce data and explain what they mean for risk. I can also help a health and safety committee look past incident rates to the conditions behind them: crew staffing, supervision, reporting by new and vulnerable workers, fatigue and mental health. I would not try to manage those areas from the board. My role would be to ask questions that management can answer with evidence, and to support executives who are making the long-term investments in people that a quarterly view may discourage.
Presented to the Board or a committee
Board human resources and compensation committee
April 2019–present
Presents workforce risk, apprenticeship, labour relations and executive compensation papers three times a year; not a director.
Member of a committee
Employer-side bargaining committee for one trade in Ontario's province-wide construction bargaining (company representative)
2014–2025
Represented the company in preparing employer proposals and reviewing settlements for one trade; an industry bargaining committee, not a board committee.
Served as a director
Volunteer board; finance and programmes committee
2015–2022
Volunteer director of a Toronto non-profit preparing people from under-represented groups for pre-apprenticeship training.
| Capacity | Committees |
|---|---|
| Ready to join | Human resources and compensation · Health, safety and environment |
I am seeking a first independent directorship with a company for which skilled labour is a material risk. That could be a contractor in a different segment from Brenmarrow, a manufacturer of building products, or a business maintaining infrastructure or facilities. I would be most useful on a human resources and compensation committee or a health and safety committee, under a chair who wants an experienced view of hourly workforces. A company in the middle of a large workforce expansion would interest me most. I do not want an honorary role; I want a seat where the board is prepared to discuss apprenticeship, labour relations and mental health as matters of strategy rather than as compliance topics. My employer supports external board service in principle, with formal consent required for each opportunity. I can provide about 24 days a year, including preparation and site visits, and I would not take a second seat until I understood the demands of the first.
When the British Columbia apprentice plan was approved, the debate turned on whether lower productivity was acceptable. A board considering a similar decision should ask a different question: has management priced the mentors' time, or has it assumed that a premium will compensate for teaching on top of normal production? Our mistake was the latter, and it cost us four mentors. As a director I would ask to see how a workforce investment is reflected in the bid and in the operating budget, which measures will show whether it is working, and when the company expects to see the return. I would also want a clear account of the alternative, including its own risks, so the board is not comparing an uncertain plan with an imagined risk-free option.
After the 2024 near miss, hazard reports from one crew rose ninefold. A board that rewards falling numbers might have read that as deterioration. I would help a committee understand that reporting rates reflect trust as well as hazards, and that a crew with no reports should prompt questions. I would ask management to show reports by employment status, language and tenure, and to explain how the company protects people who are most dependent on it, such as workers on closed permits or apprentices in their first year. I would also want to know which reports led to action, because people stop reporting if nothing changes. My aim would be to make sure the board's safety oversight does not create incentives for silence.
In my first months I would visit active sites or plants with the safety lead and spend time with supervisors and crews, arranged through management, to understand how the company's people actually work. I would read the main labour agreements, the workforce plan and the last three years of safety investigations, looking for patterns in staffing and supervision rather than individual blame. I would meet the head of human resources and the head of health and safety separately to learn where they think the board's attention is missing. On the committee I would ask for a small set of measures that can be followed over time, such as apprentice completion, supervisor turnover and reporting by new workers, rather than adding to the papers. I would also ask how the company supports workers between projects, since seasonal layoffs shape who returns. I would take part in at least one executive compensation cycle before suggesting changes. After a year I would ask the chair for frank feedback on whether my questions were helpful.
Several kinds of connection could compromise my judgement. Brenmarrow works with large consortia, public owners, subcontractors and suppliers across Ontario and British Columbia; a company that bids against us, supplies us or partners with us would need careful review, and direct competitors would be unsuitable. My shares in the employee share plan are a financial interest I would disclose. My years on an employer-side bargaining committee mean I know union officials and other contractors' labour relations staff, and a company in the same bargaining structure might find my position awkward during negotiations. I would never bring Brenmarrow's bid, wage or labour relations information into another boardroom, nor share another company's with my employer. Where a conflict affected only an occasional matter, I would declare it and leave the discussion. If it touched the company's core workforce or labour strategy, I would decline the appointment instead.
I hold shares in Brenmarrow through its employee share plan and remain its chief human resources officer. I would disclose both, along with my former bargaining role, and test independence against any trading, joint-venture or subcontracting links before accepting a seat.
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
India's IICA databank is an Indian requirement with no counterpart obligation for the Canadian boards I am approaching. I have therefore not registered, and this status reflects that it is irrelevant here, not that an application is under way.