From Area Control Centre to people leadership

Careers rarely follow the path imagined at the outset. Diana Kelly expected to become a teacher. Instead, she found herself in the Area Control Centre. Raised by an air traffic controller, Kelly grew up around aviation but had not initially planned to follow that path. When she joined NAV CANADA in the early 2000s, qualifying as an air traffic controller in 2002, the decision felt almost spontaneous. What she could not have known at the time was that the role would become the starting point for a career that would stretch across more than two decades and ultimately lead her to the organization’s top human resources position. What followed was not a linear climb through a single function. Instead, Kelly moved repeatedly into unfamiliar territory. Over time, she stepped out of operational roles into management positions across different parts of the organization, sometimes entering areas where she’d had little prior exposure. “I have stepped into parts of the company that I hadn’t worked in before or wasn’t an expert in,” Kelly says. “Some roles I took meant leaving my comfort zone.” That boldness led to her moving from an operational aviation background into the role of chief human resources officer. While Kelly did not come up through the discipline like most of her peers, her early career in the highly technical world of air traffic control served her well. Operational precision and safety defined her daily work, and when she became CHRO, she brought with her that operational perspective. The vantage point changed over time, but the instinct remained the same: keeping complex operations aligned and moving in the same direction.

Learning as a leadership discipline Over more than two decades at NAV CANADA, Kelly came to see adaptability and curiosity as core leadership habits. This is visible not only in her career moves but also in how she continues to invest in her own development. “The continuous learning mentality is something I’ve developed over time,” she says. “When you first start your career, you’re often very focused on the work directly in front of you. As you grow, you begin to think more about the bigger picture.” Kelly formalized that mindset in 2021, completing an executive MBA while continuing to work full time. The courses exposed her to broader business perspectives that extended beyond the aviation sector and beyond the organization itself. Not long after completing the program, she began studying French. German lessons, to refresh her university minor, may soon follow.

Rebuilding trust after disruption The most significant leadership challenge of Kelly’s career emerged during the pandemic. Few industries experienced a more dramatic shock than aviation. Global travel collapsed almost overnight, creating operational and financial uncertainty across the sector. For NAV CANADA, the disruption extended well beyond economics. It affected how employees worked, how regions responded to public health policies, and how leadership decisions were interpreted across the organization. “Aviation was decimated during the pandemic,” Kelly says. “It created a situation where very difficult decisions had to be made.” Provinces implemented different policies, and reactions varied widely across the country. Maintaining cohesion within a national workforce required constant communication and careful leadership.

The experience tested trust. As the organization emerged from the most acute phase of the crisis, Kelly and her colleagues recognized that rebuilding that trust would require visible investment in leadership and culture. One response was the launch of a national leadership development initiative known as Leaders of the Future. Designed initially for managers, the program brought leaders from across the country together for in-person training and conversation. At the time, it was introduced quickly and somewhat experimentally. “We didn’t know exactly what the impact would be,” Kelly says. “But we knew it was important to bring people together.” Expanding significantly since its launch, the initiative now includes supervisors and joint training sessions where different leadership levels work through challenges together. Interest in the program continues to grow, and it has become an increasingly central element of leadership development at the organization. When organizations describe themselves as “people-centric,” Kelly believes the claim must be visible in the everyday experience of employees. “It’s really about what people feel and experience,” she says. “Not just what the organization says.” Programs, policies, and leadership behaviours all contribute to that experience, but they must adapt as organizations and employees change. Introducing a program once and leaving it untouched, she notes, is rarely enough: “You have to be willing to adjust and continue listening.”

Leadership as a collective effort Despite holding one of the organization’s most senior roles, Kelly is quick to emphasize that her approach to leadership is fundamentally collaborative. The success of any initiative − whether it be leadership development, culture building, or operational change − depends on teams working together and challenging ideas constructively. “I’ve always believed that great leadership is collective, not individual,” she says. “Everything we accomplish comes from the people I work with.” Even after more than two decades with NAV CANADA, Kelly continues to view leadership less as a position and more as a shared responsibility among colleagues. The organization may operate in a complex and highly technical industry, but the underlying principle remains simple. Progress rarely comes from one person steering alone. It comes from many people working together, adjusting course when necessary, and keeping the broader destination clearly in sight.

Spotlight

That habit of continual development shapes how Kelly approaches leadership internally as well. In her view, organizations function best when development is treated as an ongoing expectation rather than a periodic initiative. Many of the professional moments she remembers most clearly have involved watching people she has mentored or recruited grow into leadership roles of their own. Building culture across a national organization NAV CANADA operates across an enormous geographic footprint. Its workforce spans regions with distinct histories, communities, and cultural traditions. For HR leadership, that reality raises an important question: how much cultural consistency is desirable in a national organization, and where should local differences be allowed to remain? Kelly does not believe culture should be identical everywhere. Complete uniformity, she argues, is neither realistic nor particularly beneficial. What matters is clarity around the fundamentals that hold the organization together. Core values, leadership expectations, compensation frameworks, and key people programs provide that consistency, helping prevent cultural drift even as local teams retain their own character. “Our organization is embedded in many different communities across Canada,” Kelly says. “There are cultural traditions and local perspectives that are important for people, and those shouldn’t disappear simply because they work for a national organization.” What matters more than identical expression, she believes, is clarity about expectations. Cultural drift tends to emerge when organizations assume alignment without actively reinforcing it. Vague standards, inconsistent leadership behaviour, or uneven application of processes can gradually pull teams in different directions. Preventing that drift requires intentional effort. Kelly points to clear organizational objectives, visible leadership engagement, structured onboarding, and leadership training as essential mechanisms for maintaining alignment. Communication also plays an important role. Culture is reinforced not only through formal policies but through the signals leaders send in everyday decisions. “You have to be very deliberate about it,” she says. “If you assume alignment because of something you did in the past, it can start to erode over time.”

NAV CANADA plays a unique and critical role in managing 18 million square kilometres of Canadian and North Atlantic airspace. Formed in 1996, we are a not-for-profit corporation − the first fully privatized air navigation service provider in the world. Our sophisticated network of area control centres, air traffic control towers, flight service stations, technology work centres, flight information centres, and navigation aids supports our purpose to keep Canada’s skies safe and shape the future of air navigation services.

Company Profile

50,000

AVIATION PROFESSIONALS RELYING ON NAV CANADA

18 million

SQUARE KILOMETRES OF MANAGED AIRSPACE

6 million+

aircraft movements managed by NAV CANADA in 2025

100

NAV CANADA-staffed sites

5,000+

employees across the country

Bio

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Company Profile

Years of Experience

25 years in the industry; started as an air traffic controller, following in her dad’s footsteps.

Tenure IN current position

Has held progressively senior positions at NAV CANADA and has worked in most groups in the company, with the exceptions of legal and finance.

Fast Fact

As a CHRO with an operational background, she has thrived by combining her experience and skills with the knowledge and abilities of the CHRO team.

Diana Kelly

Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer

NAV CANADA CHRO Diana Kelly reflects on leadership, trust, and building a cohesive culture across teams and regions nationwide

Read on

“The continuous learning mentality has been developed over time. When you start your career, you’re often very focused on the work directly in front of you. As you grow, you begin to think more about the bigger picture”

Diana Kelly, NAV CANADA

“Our organization is embedded in many different communities across Canada. There are cultural traditions and local perspectives that are important for people, and those shouldn’t disappear simply because they work for a national organization”

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Published April 13, 2026

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Diana Kelly, NAV CANADA

2000

2015

2018

2020

2022

2025

Credentialed as an air traffic controller and unit operations specialist.

2000

Named as a “Top 20 under 40” winner by Wings magazine for young professionals in aviation in Canada.

2015

Rose to AVP of corporate planning performance (one of her progressively senior positions in NAV CANADA).

2018

Joined executive team as VP and chief safety and quality officer. Graduated with executive MBA degree from Ivey Business School at Western University − valedictorian and dean’s honour list. Chose to do an MBA to diversify her knowledge and bring new perspectives into NAV CANADA.

2020

Became NAV Canada CHRO.

2022

Top HR Executives and Leaders in the World Global 100.

2025

Milestones