Jodi Derkach: putting integrity and ESG stewardship first
Published: Oct 08, 2021
When Jodi Derkach and her husband discussed the characteristic they wished most for their kids, it was integrity. Last year, she won an Our World Award for exemplifying Nutrien's Core Value of Integrity – now that's leading by example.
An Our World Award is one of the highest honors a Nutrien employee can receive and is reserved for those who have driven excellence beyond their day-to-day roles. Winners are selected for demonstrating our Core Values and Engagement Principles: Safety, Integrity, Inclusion, Performance, Community and Innovation.
"This award was an honor for me. I want to set a good example for my children, teaching them that integrity and everything wrapped up in it like ethics, fairness and humility will always serve you well," says Jodi, Senior Manager of the Land & Resource team for Nutrien's Potash business unit.
While working with Jodi, Lisa Mackenzie, Senior Advisor, Land & Resource, noted that her colleague exemplifies those characteristics, so she nominated Jodi for the award.
"Jodi values integrity in all aspects, and continually considers how decisions that are made today will impact the company, our communities and the potash resource within Saskatchewan in the future," says Lisa. "She's doing an outstanding job leading a team that didn't formally exist at Nutrien's legacy company, fulfilling the substantial demands of the position while remaining a genuine, caring and collaborative leader."
For Jodi, the key to becoming a good leader is honing your natural skills while working on improving those that may not come as easily. "There's a lot of trial and error in life, so feedback, self-reflection and perspective are important steps to building the self-awareness needed for various leadership roles," she says.
Integrity at work
The Land & Resource team is busy growing our world from the ground up, both literally and figuratively. One of its key roles is to identify available recoverable potash resource and secure it for future development, while ensuring that those who hold the rights to the land are paid royalties in a fair and transparent manner.
"Potash is a finite resource, so we're working to enable responsible stewardship," Jodi explains. "Further, we are committed to continuous learning about First Nations and Metis peoples and the historical significance of the land on which we operate."
Over the past two years, the team has completed significant mineral lease amendments at most of Nutrien's potash sites, which add decades of potash mining opportunity.
"I'm proud to work for Nutrien, and I'm passionate about improving upon environmental, social and governance matters in the mining and agricultural sectors," says Jodi. "Every single person on my team has integrity, and I'm really proud of how we are representing the company and the industry as a whole."
Jodi and the team at the 2020 Women in Nutrien (WIN) 5km walk.