The Team
> Gordon
Harrison
> Don Jarvis
> Michelle Marcotte
> Barry Smith
Gordon Harrison brings to Inter/Sect Alliance a very broad base of experience in public affairs consulting to food and consumer products industries, complemented by his hands-on experience in public administration and agri-business.Gordon joined the consulting profession in 1986 as a government relations consultant with Canada's largest public affairs consultancies, there serving food and beverage sector clients. He subsequently became a partner in Canada's longest-established government relations consulting firm, where he managed its food and consumer products practice and a public policy forum whose membership included over 20 national industry associations.
Since 1990, Gordon has increasingly specialized in trade and regulatory issues management and communications counsel to food, agriculture and seafood sector clients, including many sectoral associations. He has also served in the capacity of president of a national Canadian food industry association and as a founding director of a national not-for-profit organization.
In the public sector, Gordon held positions in the federal departments of Agriculture and Industry, Trade and Commerce, where he managed programs in support of Canada's meat, poultry, grains and oilseeds industries. While subsequently an officer in the Food and Consumer Products Branch of Regional Industrial Expansion, he conducted competitiveness analysis in preparation for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations and completed a number of related industry sector studies. Gordon concluded his public service career as an assistant to the Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion, providing policy advice on matters affecting the food, beverage and fisheries sectors.
Prior to joining government, he held marketing and management positions in Canadian agri-business. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph.
Don Jarvis has been acting as an agent of change for over 20 years in the food and consumer products sector seeking a better regulatory and public policy climate.His record of achievement speaks for itself. Don Jarvis has helped clients seek redress for trade inequities and injury; assisted clients to have their products exempted from various taxation initiatives and has ensured that products overcome regulatory hurdles which stand in the way of their marketing and distribution. Don has done this by gaining the respect of both senior bureaucrats and politicians for his ability to seek out win-win policy solutions. He has an unmatched understanding of how the public policy and regulatory process works in Ottawa.
Educated in Ottawa, Don's career first took him across the country at senior management levels in several national corporations. Back in the Capital in the 1980's, he headed the lobbying operations of a major national industry association. Since 1989 his consulting practice has served more than 40 major food, beverage, drug and consumer goods companies, associations and coalitions, saving clients millions of dollars in tax, duty and operating costs.
Don has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Masters of Public Administration from Carleton University.
Michelle Marcotte specializes in management consulting in support of market development for new food products and technologies. She entered consulting after a decade as a senior market development specialist for a new food technology, a position that enhanced her international regulatory, food technology and marketing communications experience. Previously, she worked for Agriculture Canada as an internal consultant on issues concerning food marketing, generic promotion, media communications, applied food technology and human nutrition, working with Canadian commodity groups and food industry associations.Michelle's regulatory affairs experience with clients in Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom now enable her to provide representation to government and strategic corporate development advice to clients in the international business community. She has prepared regulatory submissions and amendments for foods and animal feeds in Canada, the United States and Australia. A recognized expert in food irradiation, related preservation and pest control technologies, she is a member of the United Nations Environment Program - Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee.
Michelle has assisted many firms with her abilities as a marketing communications planner. She also has very strong skills in the field of technical communications, having designed, scripted and produced a wide range food industry communications materials. These skills enable Michelle to deliver strategic communications counsel and technical support for both new products and newly emerging food industry firms.
Michelle is a registered Home Economist in the Province of Ontario, a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists and the Canadian Institute of Food Technology. Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts in Home Economics (Foods and Nutrition) from the University of Windsor.
Barry Smith joined the consulting community in August, 1994 following a 32 year career in the Federal Public Service where he served for many years as Director of Regulatory Affairs in the Food Directorate of the Health Protection Branch.He has provided consulting services to domestic and multinational food manufacturing firms as well as the federal government and a number of international U. N. affiliated agencies. Providing technical support relating to the GATT and NAFTA Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade has become an increasingly important area of his consulting practice.
Barry is well-known in the Canadian food industry because of his very detailed knowledge of both Canadian regulatory requirements and the standards, guidelines and recommendations adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. His work in the developing world and network of international contacts brings a unique skill set to the Alliance.
Barry has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba.