Mr. Bill Sutherland is a Veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who achieved the rank of Colonel. He retired in 1997 as the Base Commander of CFB Edmonton. He is a highly accomplished individual with over 40 years of leadership and executive experience and a record of military excellence. He is an award-winning senior public servant and a proven executive leader.
From 2009 to 2016, Mr. Sutherland held the appointment of Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, a Canadian not-for-profit company that provides meaningful employment for retired Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP members and is the largest national employer of Veterans. Mr. Sutherland has been committed to the task of finding meaningful employment for Veterans. He served as a member and Chair of the Northern Alberta Division of Commissionaires’ Board of Governors, ensuring that his division annually recruited in excess of 100 Veterans per year.
Since assuming the position of Chair of the National Board in 2010, Mr. Sutherland has demonstrated exceptional foresight in determining the governance and structural parameters required to ensure the Corps’ continued success in achieving its social mandate, not only assisting Veterans with their transition to the civilian workplace but also, in many cases, their spouses and other family members. His commitment to ensuring that the Corps of Commissionaires continued to hire between 1,000 and 1,200 Veterans each year (not including family members) was indefatigable. These employment opportunities enabled Veterans to successfully transition and provided them with an environment to ease the stress caused by this adjustment.