New CEO Named For Dillon Consulting

A Saint John man has been named the next CEO of Dillon Consulting.

Sean Hanlon will take over from the current CEO, Terry Boutilier, on March 1.

Hanlon is a chemical engineer with nearly three decades of industry experience.

He first joined Dillon Consulting in 2002, became a partner in 2007, and was appointed president in January of 2019.

The company said Hanlon led the organization through “an intense time of change and transition … while unleashing significant growth across Canada.”

“Sean brings an exceptional work ethic, strong personal motivation, commitment and the necessary leadership to continue to move the organization forward to achieve its desired goals,” said the company in a news release.

“He has been recognized for his abilities to lead and communicate respectfully and honestly, and to engage directly and inspire stakeholders.”

Hanlon has done much of that leading and communicating from right here in Saint John as the company’s president.

“In the previous leadership, there was an expectation that if you wanted to be in these roles you had to move to Toronto, and I wasn’t willing to move to Toronto,” said Hanlon during an interview with Huddle in April 2019. “I’m not about titles, and my wife is a teacher and she’s got a great job here, so I wasn’t going to move for the role.”

But upon evaluation, the company realized that with the advancement of technology and the general shift in workplace culture that has taken place over the last 10 years, the role of the president could actually be done remotely.

“The way the workplace is nowadays, people don’t move around and transfer as readily as they have in the past, because there’s usually two-income families and people get established and it’s much more flexible/The company is a little more open-minded when it comes to leadership transition that before,” said Hanlon.

“We do a fair amount of Google Hangouts for our meetings. We got our leadership across the country … travelling around to other offices is a requirement anyway so it really doesn’t matter where I’m at.”

Dillon Consulting has 19 offices and more than 800 employees across Canada.