Jennifer Ahearn, chief officer of the Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing, is now the strategic operations officer for the Civil Service. The appointment is effective 1 Aug.
Deputy Chief Officer Nancy Barnard will take on the duties of acting chief officer.
Ahearn spent 10 years with the health ministry. During that time, she worked on the National Conservation Law, expansion of the marine parks and legislation on such issues as health insurance, mental health, organ transplant and end of life advance directives.
She also helped create the first National Health Policy, National Sports Policy, National Solid Waste Management Strategy, Mental Health Policy, and Culture and Heritage Policy.
But Ahearn was embroiled in some controversial issues as well. In 2014, she was already chief officer when she became the target of a profanity-laced tirade by Osbourne Bodden, which led to Bodden’s removal as minister of health. An audit on overtime abuse by Department of Environmental Health workers in 2018 found fault with Ahearn’s leadership.
Deputy Governor and Head of the Civil Service Franz Manderson said he was happy to have Ahearn in her new role.
“I welcome Ms. Ahearn to the Office of the Deputy Governor and thank her for her dedication and commitment to the Ministry of Health,” Manderson said in a news release. “While the Civil Service has made significant progress in the areas of governance, innovation and reducing bureaucracy, there is still much work to be done. I am most fortunate to have someone of Ms. Ahearn’s considerable experience and expertise come on board to lead these critical areas which are essential if we are to become a World-Class Civil Service.”
Ahearn, Manderson said in a phone interview, will serve as a kind of overarching manager of government functions, promoting practices that are working best and eliminating duplicate efforts.
“She will oversee a lot of the operation that goes on,” Manderson said. “It’s akin to a chief operating officer.”
Manderson said there are “centres of excellence” in various ministries, where government is functioning particularly well. Other ministries may be doing similar work in a less efficient manner, he said. Ahearn’s job will be to standardise those operations, where there is “one way of doing things”.
“It’s very efficient,” he said. “It saves money. And we’re not duplicating our efforts. She will develop a strategy and we will go about reengineering our backroom operations to make them more efficient.”
The Deputy Governor’s Office noted that Barnard will be on vacation shortly, and while she is away, the ministry’s Chief Financial Officer Nellie Pouchie will cover the acting chief officer’s duties.
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