Melissa Young, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, is a results-oriented change leader who has over 30 years of experience in workforce development and the skilled trades. Her work focused on promoting the trades, harmonizing apprenticeships, developing partnerships with First Nations communities, Indigenous groups, labour and management, equity groups, and influencing the national landscape for apprenticeship.
Prior to leading Skilled Trades Ontario, Melissa was the Executive Director of the National Electrical Trade Council (NETCO), an alliance of the Canadian Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to promote national Red Seal standards and safety in electrical skills training. Between 2000 and 2009, Melissa was the Executive Director of the Carpenters Training Centre of New Brunswick, where under her leadership the training institute grew by more than ten-fold. Melissa was the inaugural Regional Coordinator for the Atlantic Apprenticeship Harmonization project lead by the Council of Atlantic Premiers. This is one of many portfolios she held during her nine year tenure with the apprenticeship division with the government of New Brunswick.
Melissa has served as past Chair of the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship’s Communication and Promotion Committee and Board member of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum. She was also appointed to the Government of Ontario’s Skilled Trades Panel which consulted extensively and produced a report that informed the development of the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021, the landmark legislation which modernized Ontario’s skilled trades and apprenticeship system.