An upcoming series of success stories will highlight the positive impact of the Canadian Evaluation Society's Professional Designation Program through the experience of some of our Credentialed Evaluators (CE). The subjects were self-identified and interviewed to put profile on how the CE designation and how the process of obtaining the credential has changed or benefitted them.

If you are a CE and would like to share your story, please contact CES at [email protected].

Success Story Eliane Turner, October 27, 2016.

Who is the Credential Evaluator (CE)?

Eliane Turner is the Director of Audit and Evaluation, for the federal Communications Security Establishment CSE-CST. She is a member of the CES National Capital Chapter (NCC) and is a Credentialed Evaluator (CE). Eliane is an internal evaluator who directs audit and evaluation teams at CSE. Her time is split evenly between audit and evaluation. She has 26 years of evaluation experience between federal government and Nortel.

Eliane has a Masters of Arts degree and is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Forensic Examiner. She obtained her CE in 2013. Her first experience with evaluation was while completing her Master’s thesis in Geography with a specialty in community development, but she did not know it was evaluation at the time.

What was the initial situation?

Eliane had just received her Certification in Internal Audit and Forensic Examination when she started the CE process. She started in 2011 and received her CE in February 2013. As a member of CES NCC, she attended Lunch and Learn sessions, professional development events, and CES conferences. She immediately saw the value in the credential and was motivated by the NCC members who were promoting and supporting the credential.

Why did the CE want the credential?

Eliane believes certification and credentialing sets standards for professional work, and she takes pride in her accomplishments. It means that a professional Board has sanctioned her competence. She was disappointed when CES chose the credential rather than certification, yet is happy with her CE.

What was/is the relationship of the credential to the CE’s work?

Eliane was Acting Director of Audit and Evaluation when the selection process for the Director position took place. She was the only applicant with a CE and a CIA and believes the credential placed her in a different category than others.

Eliane has a team of evaluators in her unit who typically spend 80% of their time on evaluations. Recently, the Government of Canada Treasury Board has approved a new Policy on Results which ensures that departmental evaluators will have opportunities to earn designations from recognized professional associations and certifying bodies. This is good news for Eliane as she can now apportion funds for two of her evaluators to begin the process. Eliane typically sends staff to the Essential Skills Series offered by CES NCC, and if they like evaluation and plan to be evaluators, she will support them in the credentialing process.

Eliane still does not see the CE asset requirement on many Requests for Proposals, and will ensure she includes the CE on future outsourced projects.

What happened?

When Eliane was applying, the CE process was newly initiated. The time to complete the application and the support and CES review/approval times were longer than she expected, but she knew that she had to finish the process within 36 months.

Her approach was to draft and complete one competency at a time and reflect on her 20 years’ of project experience in order to address each element. She tried to refer to various projects. She had support and recognition from her supervisor and found the NCC evaluation community very supportive. They shared examples and provided guidance at professional development events and through communication.

Results.

Professional practice is a priority for Eliane, and she is proud of her CE designation. "This has been a great initiative for CES."

She likes the listing of CEs on the CES web site and can’t understand why the list is not longer – "Where is everybody?"