VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Police Department has appointed an Indo-Canadian woman as a new member to its senior management team.
Simi Heer was welcomed by the VPD as it’s new Director of Public Affairs.
Heer is a strategic communications leader, with extensive experience in crisis communication, issues management, and corporate communications. As the Director of Public Affairs for the Vancouver Police Department, Simi will lead the communications strategy for the department, and provide oversight for all communications and public affairs functions of the organization.
She joined the VPD on December 5th, 2016, after spending more than a decade at BC Hydro – Canada’s third largest electrical utility – in progressively senior communications and public affairs roles.
At BC Hydro, Heer was the manager of Media Relations and Issues Management and the lead spokesperson for the company. She and her team developed and implemented the media and issues strategy and dealt with news media from all regions of the province.
She led communications for a variety of issues and corporate initiatives, ranging from power outages and electricity rate increases, to promoting conservation programs and highlighting billion-dollar capital projects.
One of Heer’s career highlights at BC Hydro was dealing with the aftermath of the 2015 windstorm – the worst storm in the company’s history.
In 2008, she won an IABC Gold Quill merit award as the editor of BC Hydro’s employee magazine. Simi studied communications at Simon Fraser University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree.
