Meet...Cheryl Slack

Director, Manitoba SITT and Director Regional Operations, Spectrum Management and Telecommunications
By Erin Nuytten

 

Cheryl Slack

Cheryl Slack has been a member of the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications group since 1975. During that time, she has taken on many different roles - as the Acting Director of the P&NR IT Unit for three years, and as an officer for the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Program Renewal group for about two and a half years. She won one of her current positions, that of Director Regional Operations, P&NR, Spectrum Management and Telecommunications in 1990, and acquired the title of Director, Manitoba SITT in 2001.

Variety and change are the cornerstones of Cheryl’s interest in her positions - and she doesn’t have to look far to find either one. “The foundation of the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications program has always been engineers, technologists and technical assistants who are constantly looking for better, faster, automated ways to improve work processes. Change is built right into the day-to- day life of the program.” She has also experienced much change as the Director, Manitoba SITT in working with the Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) program.

There are two on-going large projects in the Spectrum Management program that keep Cheryl on her toes. The first includes the development of policies and procedures that ensure public concerns over the aesthetics and placement of radio antenna structures are addressed, and the second is ensuring that the public is protected from the harmful affects of electromagnetic radiation that is radiated as radio signals from those antennae. On the SITT regional level, Cheryl is very involved in preparing for our local SITT days which you have read about in previous articles by Emilee Pedruchny.

Outside the office, Cheryl keeps herself busy with non-motorized, non-competitive outdoor activities such as running, snowboarding, scuba diving, kayaking, mountaineering, ice climbing and biking. She has a 16-year-old son, Dylan, with whom she enjoys snowboarding. She admits that he is a better snowboarder than her, however, she can still beat him at pool. Then her husband, Jeff, the ex-pool hall worker, steps in and keeps her humble.

This year for Christmas, Cheryl had a very unique tree with live fish in it, and a live angelfish for the tree topper ornament.