Dave Devana, the former chief administrative officer of the Municipality of North Cowichan, has been appointed CEO of the Nanaimo Airport Commission.
Devana will replace Mike Hooper who is set to retire in June.
In a news release, the Commission said Devana has “extensive experience with negotiations, bargaining, communications, land use, leasing, governmental relations and funding, financial management, strategic planning, human resources and labour relations, information technology, innovation and most importantly leadership.”
“Mr. Devana brings a solid knowledge of complex administrative structures and a working knowledge of local government, which will assist in the airport’s collaboration with communities on the Island,” Wendy Clifford, chair of the Commission said in the release.
Devana left North Cowichan in March of 2017 under mysterious circumstances.
The municipality has never revealed the reasons for Devana’s departure, which is believed to have been accompanied by a large severance package, the details of which have also been closely guarded.
Then-mayor Jon Lefebure said Devana left by “mutual agreement” but refused to discuss what he termed a personnel matter.
Most recently Devana has been CAO for the Town of Cochrane, Alberta, a job he landed in October 2017.
Devana announced his resignation in late February, a move that appears to have caught the mayor and council of Cochrane, a community on the outskirts of Calgary by surprise.
Local media said Devana, who earned almost $242,000 in salary and benefits in 2018 as Cochrane’s CAO, shocked council with his resignation.
“All of council was taken aback by the resignation letter that we received Monday, but we’re going to move forward,” said Mayor Genung. “We’ve just got to put our heads down and get back to work.
“He didn’t give us a lot of details,” said Genung, “Other than that he was looking to get out of the public service life and move into possibly the private sector,” the Cochrane Times reported.
A week later, the Nanaimo Airport Commission, a not-for-profit authority under the Canada Corporations Act, announced it had hired Devana.
The Airport Commission is governed by a board of directors who are responsible for its corporate mandate, overall function of the airport, and the strategic direction for airport developments.
The current board is comprised of nine directors. Five members of these nine are nominated by entities and appointed by the board: City of Nanaimo, Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, The Town of Ladysmith, CVRD and RDN. The remaining four directors are appointed by the board to represent the communities at large.