Nasittuq Corp.’s new president Chris Webb says he has “big shoes to fill” as he prepares to take over from outgoing president Jody Langelier. (Photo courtesy of Chris Webb)
Nasittuq Corp. gets new president
Chris Webb takes over the job from outgoing president Jody Langelier
Nasittuq Corp., an Ottawa-based company that provides technical, logistical and operations support for the Arctic’s North Warning System, has named Chris Webb its new president.
His official start date is June 3.
Nunatsiaq News caught up with Webb on Wednesday at a Canadian defence industry conference in Ottawa. He said he is “shaking a lot of hands, meeting a lot of folks,” as he prepares for his new job.
“I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Webb said of outgoing president Jody Langelier, who is retiring after 35 years at the company.
“Jody has laid such a fabulous foundation that really I just need to come in and get my feet wet,” Webb said, adding Langelier hired Webb right out of university to work at Nasittuq to be a trainee through the Inuit Training and Development Program.
“It’s quite the honour to have her and the board … put their confidence in me to move Nasittuq forward.”
Webb is an Inuk originally from the Nunatsiavut settlement region of Labrador.
He spent approximately a decade at Nasittuq and worked his way up through the ranks to senior-level management.
He left the company to work at Nunatsiavut Group of Companies, where he eventually became president and CEO in 2016. After 14 years, he is returning to where his career started.
“It’s a full circle,” Webb said.
This map shows the extent of the North Warning System of radar stations as envisioned by Canada and the United States in 1987. When Norad is modernized, it’s possible these radar stations would be moved further north. (Map courtesy of Department of National Defence)
Nasittuq, which employs about 400 people, won a seven-year contract in February 2022 worth $592 million to maintain and operate the North Warning radar system.
The North Warning System is the North American Aerospace Defence Command’s array of 47 northern radar stations, which spans the entirety of Canada and Alaska’s Arctic.
The aging radar stations are now considered obsolete and will come to the end of their lifespans in 2025.
Due to increasing concerns around Arctic security, the Canadian and U.S. governments committed to the modernization of Norad in February 2021.
Since that time, the U.S. and Canadian governments have made multiple announcements pledging funding to upgrade the aging system, adding up to $38.6 billion in spending over the next two decades.
“We’re in a great position to move forward on Norad modernization,” Webb said. “It’s going to be challenging but very rewarding at the same time.”
The company also has an eight-year, $122-million operations contract for the Canadian Armed Forces station in Alert, Nunavut, that it won in October 2022. The base is Canada’s northernmost military outpost.
His first priority should be to fix the hiring process. They are notoriously slow, take forever to respond, and ignore emails and phone calls. They have lost out on many potentially great employees because people get fed up with the process. It should not take over 6 months to schedule an interview.
Nasittuq struggles with recruiting. When uploading your resume, they ask for your expected salary. Even with security clearance, they hesitate to hire.
I know a very qualified Inuk that applied for an advertised role at one of the Dewline sites while having more than the expected education and experience. She never heard back.
Nassituq, your recruitment process is not transparent. Big corporations and it takes have a year for most to hear back from HR? Maybe add that onto your advertisements, “May take up to 1 year for an interview, it may take 2 years for security clearance and job offer” Nunavut needs a Nassituq review as a business corp that says it’s hiring and benefiting NU residents and other Inuit Orgs.
All these so called Inuit company’s have not a clue how to hire, train, and retain an Inuit workforce, just another J/v pumiping
Hundreds of millions of dollars into a southern company. Just another token company like the big list already doing it.
IAN : Please explain how you can easily retain an Inuit workforce, it doesn’t happen here in the north, so what makes you think it would be any better in the south.