Minister responsible for Innovation Jeremy Harrison is pleased to announce that Wes Jickling will assume responsibility as the CEO of Innovation Saskatchewan on July 1, 2016.  He replaces Jerome Konecsni, who is retiring at the end of this month.

Jickling, originally from Estevan, has held senior positions in corporate, government, and international development organizations during his career.  Prior to joining Innovation Saskatchewan, Jickling worked at Canpotex, the offshore exporter of Canadian potash, in corporate and marketing services.  During a five year period as a public servant in the Government of Saskatchewan, he was a senior executive and adviser on international relations, federal-provincial relations and trade policy.

“Wes Jickling’s experience in the private and public sectors, in Saskatchewan and overseas, will bode well as he advances our government’s innovation agenda,” Harrison said.  “I wish Jerome the best in retirement and thank him for his service and commitment in making Saskatchewan emerge as an innovation leader.”

Jerome Konecsni has served as Innovation Saskatchewan's CEO since October 2011.  He joined the province after serving as the Director General of the National Research Council's Plant Biotechnology Institute.  He also served as the CEO of Genome Prairie and was a vice president at Bioriginal Food and Science, where he helped the company grow from a small start up to a successful international enterprise with a presence on four continents.

During Konecsni's tenure partnerships in Saskatchewan's key sectors between government, industry and academia were developed in mining (International Minerals Innovation Institute), nuclear innovation (Sylvia Fedoruk Centre) and agriculture (Global Institute for Food Security).  He has been a strong voice in encouraging students in our K-12 system to consider careers in science and technology.

Innovation Saskatchewan is the province's special operating agency responsible for managing the government's innovation investments and agenda.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-526-8927