From a Bee Farmer to the Health Nut in SITT,
 

By Erin Nuytten

 

Rick Gensiorek, Director, Information Highway Branch, SITT-P&NR has worked for the Government of Canada for almost 28 years. Throughout his career, Rick has done many ‘side jobs’, including being a licensed projectionist for 15 years, and a movie extra on several occasions. In his youth, Rick also worked on one of the largest apiaries (a bee farm, where bees are raised for their honey) in Canada, located in Ethelbert, MB.

The Information Highway Branch’s key focus right now is developing E-ssociations (a P&NR branded initiative) to ensure self-sustainability for Community Access Program (CAP) sites across the region. Rick enjoys “working with such a creative team who are always thinking outside of the box, with their clients’ and the department’s best interests in mind.”

Rick likes being able to put on his ‘creative hat’ when program challenges come his way. He likes not being ‘boxed in’. He feels that “my job provides me with a lot of latitude.” The P&NR IHB develop their own delivery strategies for programs, allowing them “to help communities/people prosper both economically and socially (and it feels good when we see results.)”

From the time that you meet Rick, you can tell that health, wellness and fitness are very important to him. He has just built himself a personal gym in his basement at home - as a “last attempt at fighting the quickly approaching 50-ish phase” of his life. The staff in Winnipeg that use the 6th floor fridge have no doubt seen some of Rick’s protein shakes (or liquid breakfasts) - which he claims are great for the body, even though not very visually appealing!