Born and raised in Toronto, Sheila moved to Yellowknife in 1986 after completing her undergraduate degree. In her 30+ years in the NWT, Sheila has worked extensively in governance development and individual/organizational capacity building.

Sheila started working for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) in 1988 for Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) first as a researcher and then with the Community Transfer Initiative which was the GNWT’s flagship initiative to transfer more power and authority to local governments. In 1994, Sheila moved to Tulita, Northwest Territories, to become the Senior Administrative Officer (SAO) for the Hamlet of Tulita. In 1997, Sheila returned to work for the GNWT as an Indigenous Self Government Negotiator for five years before becoming the Director of Corporate Affairs for MACA in 2002 and subsequently Assistant Deputy Minister in 2005. She was appointed Deputy Minister of Human Resources in 2011 and held that position until 2014 when she left the GNWT.

After running her own management consultancy for 3 years, Sheila returned to public service when she joined the City of Yellowknife in March 2017 as City Administrator.

Sheila has an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree from Queen’s University in Kingston and a Masters of Arts from Royal Roads University.

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