The former government aide, with seemingly no prior business experience in the meat industry, will head up the CMC with immediate effect.
White has spent decades working in the political, public and private sector, primarily in finance, automobiles and insurance.
He leaves his current role as vice-president of government relations at the Canadian Credit Union Assertion, a position he has been in since 2015.
“I am delighted to welcome Chris White to the Canadian Meat Council,” said CMC chair Troy Warren in a statement.
“Chris will draw on his more than 20 years of successful experience in top-tier political, public and private sector roles in the development of a new vision and strategic plan, which will focus our organisation on becoming a best-in-class trade association.”
White was listed as one of the top 100 lobbyists in Canada by the Hill Times in 2015. He also has a master’s degree in political science from the University of Windsor, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Ottawa.
What does the CMC do?
For nearly 100 years, the CMC has been representing the interests of Canada’s 400 federally inspected meat plants. With annual sales of circa $27bn and exports of $6.1bn the Canadian meat industry is the largest sector in the country’s food processing area, employing 66,000 people. CMC is the mouthpiece of the country’s meat industry and discusses industry issues with government.