It’s not unusual for Maureen Hanley to get a call from a customer who can’t sleep at night.
She works in food safety — where complicated global food safety standards can generate anxiety for manufacturers and processors who fear they might not meet requirements or pass the dreaded audit.
“I feel like I’m always on the edge,” a client once told her. “I feel like we’re about to fail, and I don’t know how to be better.”
That’s exactly the type of problem Hanley likes to help fix as head of operations with Navigate Food Safety Solutions. The Montague-based company helps food manufacturers and processors navigate complex certification standards and apply them to their specific operations.
“We do that by making things simple,” she explains.
Hanley describes her “classic customer” as someone who makes high-quality, safe food but wants to ensure their processes meet certification standards in an efficient way, so they can access a new market or customer. The issue? Standards typically contain generic and complicated language to cover every situation, not advice on how to comply if you’re a yogurt maker, potato processor or food-wrap manufacturer.
“There is no translation document,” Hanley explains.
Alex Hanley, Maureen’s husband and Navigate’s founder, provides that translation. A food-safety expert and former auditor, Alex understands the minutiae of the standards and can figure out how to apply them in a given workplace.
Maureen focusses on business growth and customer relationships.
“I love to solve problems. I can’t help it — I’m always coming up with ideas!”
Hanley, herself, brings food industry background — including her previous role managing the brand of Chef Michael Smith at Culinart Ltd.
At any time, Navigate typically employs four staff and works with about 15 North American clients, ranging in size from five to 5,000 employees.
Hanley says P.E.I. offers a business-friendly environment, noting the support Navigate has received from SkillsPEI, Innovation PEI, the local Community Business Development Corporation and ACOA.
“I think Maritimers are entrepreneurial by nature,” she says, pointing to the region’s tradition of farmers, fishers, artisans and small businesses.
Hanley loves that modern connectivity means she can live in her native P.E.I. and work anywhere in the world — exporting consulting and training expertise and bringing dollars back into the province.
“You just need courage and some high-speed internet,” she says.
