Meet Sonja Zours, Management Systems Specialist, a 2022 addition to our Blue Heron Environmental team.
Sonja holds a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph and brings considerable experience as a team leader in the fields of quality assurance, risk management, regulatory program planning, and auditing.
We asked Sonja Zours to answer a few questions to help our clients get to know her better.
I was chatting with a family member about making a career change to the environmental field and my hopes to re-plant roots in Northern Ontario. She put me in touch with Linda for an informal chat to get insight into the industry.
After a great discussion about the field and Blue Heron Environmental, the opportunity presented itself to leverage my previous skillset and join the team.
It was a fortunate cascade of events!
It’s still early days for me in this role but it’s letting me tap into the experience I have in program management and process development. There’s something very satisfying about setting up a program or process for clients that is practical and can be easily followed and maintained.
I think there can be a misconception that individuals in this type of role don’t understand how things work in reality, just on paper.
A good management systems specialist will take the time to get out into the field or on the production floor to see and understand operations and the challenges faced. They collaborate with impacted teams and stakeholders to make sure that the written programs and processes are developed to ensure a client is compliant to regulations, but that they are also user-friendly for those responsible for carrying out the activities.
My very first job was working on-and-off as a student for an inventory company, but my first full-time job was as a quality assurance auditor at a meat product manufacturer. A memorable part of this job was the daily morning quality control meetings, which included tasting all items in production.
By 9am that could be around 20 items varying from salami to smoked sausages. It took getting used to but eventually everyone on the team craved that early morning salt fix lol.
I would love to gain all the knowledge a mechanic has and be able to fix anything. I have an old muscle car that’s been a love/hate project because I want to be involved in all aspects of getting it going but it just isn’t my strong suit.
Thank goodness for mechanically inclined family and friends!
If it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
(Less of a quote but something to keep in mind when working on legal compliance and the importance of proper records as evidence.)
I’d love to plan and take a road trip down the West coast of Canada and the US.
This is a tough one so let’s go with something more recent.
Before Covid I had a few opportunities to travel to BC and spent some time exploring. I absolutely loved being able to see the ocean, the mountains and the rainforests.
If you ever have the chance to do the Treetops Adventure at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (and aren’t afraid of heights), do it!
I was chatting with a family member about making a career change to the environmental field and my hopes to re-plant roots in Northern Ontario. She put me in touch with Linda for an informal chat to get insight into the industry.
After a great discussion about the field and Blue Heron Environmental, the opportunity presented itself to leverage my previous skillset and join the team.
It was a fortunate cascade of events!
It’s still early days for me in this role but it’s letting me tap into the experience I have in program management and process development. There’s something very satisfying about setting up a program or process for clients that is practical and can be easily followed and maintained.
I think there can be a misconception that individuals in this type of role don’t understand how things work in reality, just on paper.
A good management systems specialist will take the time to get out into the field or on the production floor to see and understand operations and the challenges faced. They collaborate with impacted teams and stakeholders to make sure that the written programs and processes are developed to ensure a client is compliant to regulations, but that they are also user-friendly for those responsible for carrying out the activities.
My very first job was working on-and-off as a student for an inventory company, but my first full-time job was as a quality assurance auditor at a meat product manufacturer. A memorable part of this job was the daily morning quality control meetings, which included tasting all items in production.
By 9am that could be around 20 items varying from salami to smoked sausages. It took getting used to but eventually everyone on the team craved that early morning salt fix lol.
I would love to gain all the knowledge a mechanic has and be able to fix anything. I have an old muscle car that’s been a love/hate project because I want to be involved in all aspects of getting it going but it just isn’t my strong suit.
Thank goodness for mechanically inclined family and friends!
If it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
(Less of a quote but something to keep in mind when working on legal compliance and the importance of proper records as evidence.)
I’d love to plan and take a road trip down the West coast of Canada and the US.
This is a tough one so let’s go with something more recent.
Before Covid I had a few opportunities to travel to BC and spent some time exploring. I absolutely loved being able to see the ocean, the mountains and the rainforests.
If you ever have the chance to do the Treetops Adventure at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (and aren’t afraid of heights), do it!
Blue Heron is an environmental consulting firm based in Timmins, Ontario, with satellite offices in Sudbury, and home-based offices throughout the province. The company was established with the express interest of providing practical, trusted, and cost-effective assistance to resource-based industries for all aspects of environmental management.
Blue Heron staff have extensive experience working in the environmental field, primarily in Northern Ontario. The company offers a wide array of specialized expertise to support organizations’ environmental management needs. Our professionals are currently engaged in a variety of environmental studies and permitting initiatives and are actively involved in different facets of project management and implementation of environmental compliance programs, as well as providing assistance with external stakeholder engagement.
