Cliff Groen

In January 2024, Cliff Groen was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada . In this role, Cliff is committed to bolstering services to Canadians and leveraging Service Canada's expertise to provide services and benefits to Canadians at every stage of their lives.

Prior to his current role, Cliff was Associate Deputy Minister and Business Lead for the Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme , the largest IT-enabled business transformation project in the history of the Government of Canada. Benefits Delivery Modernization is modernizing the delivery of Canada's core social benefits programs, namely the Old Age Security (OAS), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Employment Insurance (EI) programs.

Previously, Cliff was Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Benefits and Integrated Services Branch and was responsible for overseeing the delivery of EI, CPP and OAS, which total over $160 billion in annual program benefit payments. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cliff was responsible for the implementation of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), as well as the call centre to support the Public Health Agency of Canada's enforcement of the Quarantine Act .

Cliff began his career in the Canadian federal public service with the Canada Revenue Agency, and also worked at Industry Canada, prior to joining Service Canada in 2005.

Cliff is married and has two adult children. In his spare time, Cliff enjoys participating in various sports, in particular golf, cycling and squash, as well as pursuing his passion for craft beer.