‘Lots of learning’ for new Town of Slave Lake department director

Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

The Town of Slave Lake not only has a brand-new department, called ‘Corporate Services.’ It has a brand-new employee to manage the whole works.

His name is Matoks Olasanoye, and he started as the Director of Corporate Services in early June.

Olasanoye has three managers under him, each responsible for an area of town business, with one other employee apiece. These are communications and economic development, human resources and information technology. The latter is looking for a manager.

“So far, so good,” says Olasanoye. “Lots of discoveries. I’m learning new things myself.”

One of the things he’s learning is how to implement a program called Enterprise Resource Planning, which involves a change in the way of doing business for the entire organization. It involves (among other things) a whole lot of new software, which once learned and implemented, should result in all town departments and systems being better integrated than they are now. That’s probably not a very good description, but the result, Olasanoye says, will be a more efficient organization. He figures it will take three or four years and be quite a challenge for town staff.

“People need to unlearn and learn,” he says.

Olasanoye likes to learn. It was the challenge of a new position in Slave Lake that drew him to the job. He already had a good, secure position in municipal administration with the City of Pitt Meadows in British Columbia, managing an array of IT systems. But he says it was becoming too comfortable; so much so it started to make him uncomfortable.

“I like to push myself,” he says. “I wanted to see what else I could do. I wanted to learn.”

So he pulled up stakes and here he is.

Olasanoye’s family, however, hasn’t made the move yet. That is the goal, he says, but it’s a tough transition. One of the main reasons is his three children would have to give up the French immersion program they are enrolled in in the Lower Mainland.

“We’re working out how they can keep doing what they are doing,” he says.

The family consists of wife Tosin and children Joba, Jomi and Jenyo.

Olasanoye was born and raised in Nigeria, Africa, a member of the Yoruba people. He has an undergraduate degree in pure chemistry, which he followed up with a master’s degree in finance. He worked 10 years in the banking industry in his native country, and in early 2017 moved to Canada, looking for new challenges and opportunities. He was six months in the country before landing his first job, which was with Pitt Meadows.

Outside of work and family, Olasanoye says he enjoys hiking, although is nervous about doing it alone, with bears in the woods. He loves the sport of football (soccer) as well.

“In Nigeria, football is like your hockey,” he says.

Otherwise, “I just like to keep active, and I like to learn a lot.”