Joanne Baczuk

Director of Ecosystem Development

Joanne joined the Ag-West Bio team to take on the role of Director of Ecosystem Development.  This position, new to the Saskatoon Region, provides the opportunity for Joanne and Ag-West Bio to work with an extensive group of community leaders looking to expand the agri-food sector.

Over her career, Joanne has gained extensive experience in economic development and financial risk management and continues to expand her area of interest to include sector-specific knowledge in ag-tech and agri-food. She also has substantial knowledge in the areas of foreign exchange markets, interest rate expectations and world economic trends for the development of risk mitigation and cash management strategies.

Joanne holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan (UofS) and has been a member of the Association of Financial Professionals since 2005, when she received her Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) designation. After graduating, Joanne spent several years with international uranium mining companies. She joined Uranerz Exploration and Mining (UEM), providing accounting support to the Finance team until 1998 when UEM was acquired by Cameco Corporation. As a Cameco employee, she became an integral part of the treasury team, providing oversight for day-to-day treasury functions, as well as being a financial advisor on cross-functional acquisitions teams. As Cameco’s Manager of Treasury Risk Management, she provided recommendations and successfully implemented currency hedging and interest rate risk strategies.

In 2015, Joanne joined the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) team as Director, Economic Forecasting and Analysis. During Joanne’s time at SREDA, her role was expanded to include directorship for the Business Attraction (BA), Business Expansion, Regional Economic Development and Entrepreneurship Pillars. She played a major role in the development of SREDA’s international BA programs, including EXPLORE (mining), HARVEST (Ag-tech) and Voyage (Agri-food). She led Project Ribbon, a multi-year value-added agribusiness attraction strategy, developed to better understand the Saskatoon Region’s advantages as well as shortcomings in the attraction of large-scale investment. Over the years, she has also supported provincial and federal economic development partners through participation in national and international BA missions and initiatives.

Phone:
306-250-4969