Chris Shantz

Background

About Chris Shantz

Ever since stepping inside Queen's Park as a legislative intern, working with politicians from all sides, I've been passionate about how government and public policy works and impacts communities. My drive is helping people understand those systems and relationships so that they can best accomplish their goals. With nearly 20 years experience, I have been an advisor to senior government leaders and decision makers in diverse portfolios, including health, human services, finance, and green energy. I am versatile, adaptable, and thrive on learning new files and issues. I’m passionate about synthesizing complex issues and ideas into clear and straightforward information that meets the needs of the audience, clients and public. As my career has advanced, my role has evolved from individual policy analyst to manage teams, and manage projects across departments. I lead with empathy, celebrate diversity, and leverage collective strength to achieve results. My expertise is in managing transformation projects, relationship development, and engagement that challenges the status quo. My success comes from bringing diverse people together and listening to them to better understand, tease out, and analyze complex ideas creating a clear understanding of issues and opportunities. I'm passionate about the needs and views of stakeholders, internal partners, and the public who want change to make the world a better place. HIGHLIGHTS Stakeholder Engagement - External engagement, including planning and leading engagement tables and consultations with Indigenous partners, energy, health and social service organizations, resulting in collaboration, respect, and long-lasting relationships - Internal engagement across government departments, senior executives, and elected officials, resulting in internal alignment and support, and effective governance/decision making, including policy and program design and strategy Policy Design and Project Management - Managed transformation projects, policy analysis, and reviews in health, human services, finance and green energy sectors to modernize, find efficiencies, and innovate Communications - Experience developing communications strategic plans and products, issues management, public speaking, and engagement with wide audiences People Management - Managed teams, including hiring, directing work, performance evaluation in a collective agreement labour-relations environment - Coached staff to grow and excel, and fostered supportive environment for team