VICTORIA - New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix has recruited British Columbia Institute of Technology president Don Wright to be his deputy minister and head of the public service.

Dix announced Wednesday that Wright will resign his post at BCIT, and that he will be appointed to the new position after the May election if the NDP are to win.

"Don Wright has an impressive track record in the private and public sectors, especially in forestry, post-secondary education and skills training," said Dix in a news release.

"He understands government, he understands the economy, and he shares my belief that skills training and inequality are central issues that government needs to tackle."

On Wednesday afternoon, Wright announced he plans to step down from BCIT effective February 27.

"I have consistently said over the past five years that being president of BCIT was the best job of my career and I have always meant that, and continue to believe so. Having said that, I have spent much of my career in the Public Service and there are some positions that one feels obliged to take if they are offered, and this is one such opportunity," Wright said in a news release.

"I humbly believe I am leaving BCIT in a good place and I am sincerely confident that BCIT's unique value to BC society will be increasingly recognized and invested in going forward."

Wright, who has been president of BCIT since 2008, has a masters in economics from the University of British Columbia and a PhD from Harvard.

In addition to being president of BCIT, he is also chair of Polytechnics Canada, a national alliance of research-intensive, publicly-funded colleges and institutes of technology.

A premier's deputy minister is the most senior bureaucrat in the provincial public service, overseeing the government's senior management team.

Premier Christy Clark's deputy minister since taking office has been John Dyble.

Wright has significant government experience, having previously been deputy minister of finance, forests, trade and investment, and education in the Saskatchewan and British Columbia governments.

From 1997 to 2001, Wright was vice-president of Weldwood Canada, a forest products company with more than $1 billion in annual sales.

Wright also served on the federal Expert Advisory Panel on Canada's International Education Strategy, which issued its final report in August 2012.

jfowlie@vancouversun.com