Rachel Wernick

Rachel Wernick is a Fellow with the Public Policy Forum and the Program Director for the Policy Leadership Program at the Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership. Rachel is one of Canada’s leading practitioners in social and employment policy, having gained experience in a variety of executive roles at Canadian Heritage, the Privy Council Office, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Public Works and Government Services Canada. She retired from the federal public service in May 2023 after a distinguished career that culminated in her role as Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Skills and Employment at Employment and Social Development Canada. In this role, she led the establishment of the Future Skills Centre, an independent centre for skills innovation and research, as well as reforms to the Youth Employment Strategy, the Skills for Success program, and the co-development of the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training program. She is known for her ability to lead multi-partner initiatives and to take something from policy challenge through to actionable options for implementation. Rachel’s excellent reputation as a policy leader resulted in her appointment as Co-Champion of the Clerk’s Policy Community initiative—a role she held for five years.

Rachel’s expertise includes workforce development, the future of work, skills and employment for equity deserving populations, and gender and diversity analysis. Rachel is strong proponent of evidence-based policy and the benefits of human-centred policy design.