Steven Jurgutis

Director General, Strategic Policy Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Born in Montréal where he lived with his parents and brother and sister until he was almost eight, when the family moved to London, Ontario for the next four years. Following that, he moved to Ottawa where he completed school then attended the University of Ottawa, receiving an Undergraduate degree in Communications with a Concentration in Political Science.

He spent a few years working for marketing communication companies and on various contracts with the federal government before becoming a public servant at National Defence where he worked for nearly seven years in various communications positions, including as the Press Secretary to the Minister. For the past fifteen years, he has worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Twelve of those years were in communications positions, including seven at the executive level. For the past three years, he has been the Director General, Policy Planning and Integration in the Policy Branch where he is responsible for the forward planning and integration of departmental policy, developing the next agricultural policy framework, federal-provincial-territorial relations, Cabinet Affairs and numerous policy files including Indigenous and Diversity, innovation, labour and regulations.

Married with two kids, he spends his “free time” playing drums and percussion in a band, biking, skiing, continuously renovating a house, and a cottage, or spending time in his new workshop and trying to read more often than watching Netflix.