Penney’s exit opens door to new era at Baffinland
Former CEO shunned media as company denied Nunatsiaq interview requests
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. CEO Brian Penney, seen here speaking at the Northern Lights conference and trade show in Ottawa in 2023, has resigned from his position, the company announced Tuesday. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Brian Penney, we hardly knew ye.
The CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. rode off into the sunset, the company announced Tuesday. The departure allows him to spend “more time with his family,” is the company’s official word.
His responsibilities were assumed by Jowdat Waheed, the president and CEO of Baffinland’s parent company, Nunavut Iron Ore, Inc. But Penney will stick around through a “transition period” to ensure a “seamless handover of responsibilities.”
So, it sounds like he’s not being pushed out the door.
But not so much as a word of goodbye from the man who led one of Nunavut’s most important companies for eight and a half years.
That’s hardly surprising. He rarely spoke publicly and, we believe, never gave an interview to a Nunatsiaq News reporter. Reporters covered him at the occasional speech at events like the Northern Lights trade show.
Ignoring the media was an unusual, ineffective, missed-opportunity communications strategy for the head of one of Nunavut’s most important businesses. Baffinland accounts for close to one-quarter of all of Nunavut’s economic activity and employs about 2,500 people at the Mary River iron mine.
Four years ago, Baffinland was on the precipice of an expansion that would have doubled the output of its mine, near Pond Inlet.
The company needed to expand to make the mine financially viable, Baffinland said again and again throughout the protracted government approval process that began in 2019 and ended in 2022.
But the federal government said no, siding with some Inuit groups and environmentalists who said the increased shipping traffic would disrupt caribou and narwhal migration patterns and interfere with the traditional Inuit way of life.
It sent Baffinland back to the drawing board to come up with what’s known as the sustaining operations proposal, to keep the mine going for 2023 and beyond.
Through it all, the CEO wouldn’t take advantage of a golden opportunity to explain, by talking to a journalist, what the expansion would mean to his company, its employees and the Inuit communities that benefit from the mining royalties Baffinland pays.
Nunatsiaq ran an op-ed by Penney in March 2021, in which he extolled his company’s plan to address Inuit concerns and environmental protection as it geared up for a doubling of mine output, which never got government approval.
One reason for publishing it was the hope that it might break the ice and the Baffinland CEO would become more amenable to more regularly answering reporters’ questions. No dice.
With Waheed at the helm, Nunatsiaq News is renewing its open invitation to sit down and, on the record, talk about the company’s future. No big deal. Lots of CEOs do it.
Nunatsiaq is extending an invitation to Mr. Waheed. It’s not the all-encompassing Donald Trump-like “anywhere, anytime” debate challenge.
But if Mr. Waheed would get together with a reporter, we’ll put one on a bus to your corporate head office in Oakville, Ont., or meet up in Iqaluit, or arrange a visit to Mary River.
Mr. Waheed, Nunatsiaq is not anti-Baffinland. And no one’s out to get you … despite what you might have been told.
So, with Penney’s departure, here’s to new beginnings.
This paper genuinely wants to understand Baffinland better. Its readers want to understand Baffinland better.
Welcome aboard, Mr. Waheed. Let’s normalize your company’s relationship with the local media.
Mining is too important for your company to continue shunning Nunatsiaq reporters.
For at the last two years I have been working for Baffinland as its Head of Stakeholder Relations and Communications, we have provided comments and statements to every Nunatsiaq News reporter request we have received. In fact, even when Nunatsiaq reporters failed to reach out for comment on several occasions, we sent them a statement and asked to be included in the story about our company.
In this instance, the Nunatsiaq news reporter never asked for an interview with Mr. Penney. We did provide answers to all of her six other questions she did ask. As well as this statement from Mr. Penney:
“Working with Baffinland has been an incredible journey, and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” said Mr. Penney. “As I step down, I want to express my deep gratitude to all stakeholders, including the people who work at Baffinland, our Inuit partners and the communities of Baffin Island. It has been an honour to lead the Company and I know the future is bright for Baffinland.”
Call or email me anytime. I am always available to answer questions from the media.
Peter
Don’t worry Peter, it’s just Corey doing his usual editorials where he shows his entitlement and poor truth telling skills
Journalists distort reality all the time. We know this because we see it all the time, we see it here. The real question is why? Journalistic malfeasance or ignorance? I suspect it is a mix of these.
The attitude expressed in this reply is exactly the problem. Baffinland deploys its communications and media experts to answer everything in order to control the message with professional expertise. But the media, and the people, also need to hear often directly from the leader of an organization. That’s how you actually get close to the people.
Nunavummiut value genuine personal connections, and Baffinland simply doesn’t hasn’t offered them that at the top leadership level or otherwise.
For trust to be built, there needs to be a dose of true vulnerability, not sky-high walls defended by communications professionals.
You have a vivid imagination
Good morning,
In the past, I had the good fortune of working with Baffinland for a number of years. During that time Brian came to Nunavut and spoke on numerous occasions. In addition Brian often got on the small plane and travelled with us to the communities where he spoke and built relationships with many local Inuit. On a couple of those trips his wife accompanied us, and built her own knowledge and understanding of our territory. I think Brian made himself available on many occasions. But I guess if Nunatsiaq does not have reporters in those communities, perhaps these trips were never covered.
Having worked closely with Brian, I can assure you that his heart was in the right place. He wanted to make things better for Inuit and for Nunavut. I shared those goals with him. He understood the role that he played in ensuring this. If only others on the senior leadership team shared Brian’s passion and drive for this. So much more could have been achieved.
Every major business utilizes communications and stakeholder relations professional as the first point of contact. Corey it is nice to say that Nunatsiaq is not against Baffinland, but your coverage does not support that. I have been reading Nunatsiaq for over 14 years now, and it is not very often that Nunatsiaq shares the good stories, or the positive work that is being done by Baffinland. I know bad news sells papers and advertising, but good news stories lift people up and build enthusiasm. Balanced news coverage is important, and for every negative story, perhaps find a couple positive stories here and there. There are many to tell.
-Matthew
I don’t think the media appreciate the extent to which they are despised by the public.
Just a BIG thanks for letting me work at B.I.M. once upon a time. It was an awesome experience. Met some awesome electricians, and mechanics at P.G.D..
Is there no Inuk with an engineering degree and sufficient experience, after all these years, to take the top job? If not, why not? Lot of explaining needed as to why Inuit don’t fill such jobs in their own land.
Cause nobody wants to work and keep taking handouts, there is a apprentice program they run but there is too many that have dropped out and don’t like working.
The best person for the job should be chosen based on qualifications and capabilities, not race or gender.
Under Mr. Penney’s leadership, Baffinland has become overly bureaucratic with too many management layers. Mr. Waheed should evaluate every position from the top down and eliminate inefficiencies.
Mr. Penney and Mr. Waheed should address the future of Baffinland and potential job losses with honesty, rather than relying on paid spokespeople to obscure the truth.
Interesting how you framed that. “The best person for the job should be chosen based on qualifications and capabilities, not race or gender.” The thing is… that is a snapshot of who the candidate is at the moment and doesn’t reflect who that less qualified candidate could become and what is best for the company in the long run.
There may be a person who is totally qualified and capable but they have no potential to be something greater. Maybe the candidate with less qualifications or experience can get that with the support of the company… and in the end be an even better hire than the person who has those qualifications now.
Being Inuk from Nunavut, they might stay at the job longer compared with someone from the south, who has more potential offerings nearer their home. By having that Inuit employee working at site, they may speak more positively about the things they see at site within their communities and get others interested in supporting the project.
A similar thought process could be made to hiring more women, where the job site begins to feel more like a normal community rather than a men’s prison. That makes everyone feel more normal and increases overall site morale.
Aside from the company having an obligation as part of their permits to hire Inuit…. Maybe race and gender do help a company determine the “best” candidate for the job.
There are a lot of good points here, yet your conclusion: “Maybe race and gender do help a company determine the “best” candidate for the job.” Does not follow from your arguments.