OTTAWA – Chicken Farmers of Canada announced that Michael Laliberté will replace Mike Dungate as the new executive director effective Oct. 2. Dungate, who will remain onboard as an advisor until the end of the year, has held the role for over 20 years. 

Laliberté has 26 years' experience at Chicken Farmers of Canada, most recently as director of Operations. In his role as director of Operations he managed the Finance Unit, the Human Resources and Administration Unit and the information systems within the Market Information and Systems Unit. He had been serving as second in command to Executive Director Dungate.

"The Board of Directors undertook a robust, external recruitment process to find the right candidate," said Chair Benoît Fontaine, "We are pleased that Michael Laliberté will be bringing his vast experience to the role and we look forward to working with him."

Laliberté will be the primary staff person reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and the Governance Committee. In addition, he will oversee a 25-member staff whose job is to promote the consumption of chicken, develop and audit on-farm food safety, animal care and specialty production programs on 2,800 farms across Canada.