Executive Exchange Chat: The Art of Priority Setting

Date: October 15, 2026
Type: In-person or online

Register Now!

The Art of Priority Setting

Feeling the pressure of too many competing priorities and not enough hours in the day?

You are not alone. For most executives, demand exceeds supply and capacity.

Get some advice on how to get, and stay, ahead on delivering. Scott Taymun and Catherine Masse, retired federal executives, will act as your coaches and share their accumulated lessons on finding your way in a complex and busy environment, based on their lived experience leading and managing complex files and transformation initiatives over the years.

Play the system, like a system.  This Executive Chat will cover key behaviours, practices, strategies, and tactics for proactively delivering on priorities (‘offence’) while simultaneously managing the unplanned curve balls, from benign irritants to the genuine urgencies (‘defence’), that can clutter and derail an executive’s agenda.

This Chat will coach you on how to:

Play ‘Offence’

  • Get your real priorities right based on the Deputy Minister’s PMA
  • Manage your time and schedule through Proactive Agenda management
  • Get your Team aligned, clear the roadblocks in their way and help them deliver
  • Mobilize colleagues to ensure due diligence
  • Manage governance and decision-making to get the decisions and cover you need

Play ‘Defence’

  • The art of issue management
  • Understand and situate the random requests and curve balls
  • Protect your Team from noise, including pushing back on false deadlines
  • Tips and tricks for rapid briefing note / issue note / QP note development
  • Close the loop at day’s end

Event Details

Location: Virtual or in-person, all participants will receive a detailed confirmation email upon registration

Cost: This is a free event

Audience: All federal public service executives are welcome to register

Language: Bilingual

Date & Time: October 15, 2026, from 12:30 to 14:00 ET

Location:  Virtual – Microsoft Teams

Date & Time: October 29, 2026, from 12:30 to 14:00 ET

Location:  Virtual – Microsoft Teams

Date & Time: November 19, 2026, from 12:30 to 14:00 ET

Location:  Virtual – Microsoft Teams

Date & Time: December 10, 2026, from 12:30 to 14:00 ET

Location:  In-person at APEX Office – 75 Albert St. Suite 400

Meet the Speakers

Elana Aptowitzer
Head of Speechwriting, Department of National Defence (DND)

Elana Aptowitzer is the Head of Speechwriting at the Department of National Defence, where she leads the development of speeches and key speaking engagements for senior departmental leaders, including the Minister, Deputy Ministers, and the Chief of the Defence Staff. She is widely recognized for her expertise in strategic communications, executive communications, and speechwriting within the Government of Canada.

A champion of professional development and innovation, Elana founded the Government of Canada’s first Speechwriters Community of Practice in 2016, creating a forum for federal speechwriters to share tools, best practices, and lessons learned. She has also taught speechwriting at Carleton University and has been recognized for her leadership and excellence in public service communications.

Before specializing in speechwriting, Elana spent nearly a decade as a communications advisor and spokesperson at National Defence, supporting high-profile files including Canada’s international defence relations, Arctic issues, domestic operations, and Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. She has also provided communications consulting through her company, Apt Words Communications, and has supported charitable organizations through volunteer communications work.

Elana holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from McGill University and a Master of Arts in Strategic Communications from American University in Washington, D.C.

Ian Gillepsie
Departmental Assistant, Office of the Minister of Jobs and Families at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Ian Gillespie is currently a Departmental Assistant (Director level) in the Office of the Minister of Jobs and Families at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), where he supports ministerial priorities and strategic initiatives at the intersection of policy, service delivery, and stakeholder engagement.

With nearly two decades of experience in the federal public service, Ian has held senior leadership positions across several central agencies and departments, including Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), and the Department of Finance Canada. His work has spanned labour market policy, temporary foreign worker programs, intergovernmental affairs, strategic planning, priorities management, and economic analysis.

Prior to joining the Minister’s Office, Ian served as Director of Federal-Provincial/Territorial Relations at ESDC, leading collaborations with provincial and territorial partners on key policy and program initiatives. He previously held director-level roles in Temporary Worker Policy at IRCC and Planning and Priorities at ESDC, where he helped shape strategic policy development and organizational planning. Earlier in his career, he served as a Senior Advisor at the Treasury Board Secretariat, an Economist at the Department of Finance Canada, and held various policy positions within ESDC.

Ian holds a Master of Arts in Econometrics and Quantitative Economics from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Queen’s University.

MEMBERSHIPNot an APEX Member?