Priority Criteria

Experience: A successful track record of providing strategic leadership as a President, General Manager, business unit leader, or in another senior corporate leadership responsibility that has resulted in the achievement of corporate goals and objectives. Ideally, this experience would have been gained in the rail transit industry. Alternatively, this experience would have been gained in a capital intensive, complex transportation environment, with the following parallels and attributes:

• Leadership of a division or subsidiary of a larger organization;
• Commercially oriented business with multiple customer touch points;
• Customer facing organization in which customer engagement and service are critical;
• Organization with a multi-unionized environment;
• Organization that has undergone successful change management;
• Organization in which technology is a key driver in supporting a high level of customer service and engagement.

Expertise: Demonstrated ability to deal with a highly regulated and complex railway and public environment. Extensive expertise and experience in driving and leading the integration of large and complex infrastructure capital program. Expert experience leading rail-oriented occupational health and safety programs to fulfil the corporate goal of Zero Harm.

Strategic Vision and Planning Skills: Expert strategic planning skills, with ability to also establish broad business strategies, targets and measures, monitor achievements, and take corrective action to change course as needed to achieve critical results. The ability to sustain a shared organizational vision and communicate it in a way that instils a strong sense of purpose in employees and other key stakeholders. A strategic and forward thinker, able to inspire a senior leadership team, workforce, and stakeholders.

Superb Leadership Skills: Expert organizational change management and leadership skills with ability to direct, coach, develop and manage performance of reporting senior leaders, and to influence others at all levels across the TransLink enterprise as well as externally with the media. A highly effective team builder and collaborative leader. Track record of choosing top calibre executives and motivating them to achieve outstanding results. Extremely service driven in every aspect of the leadership dimension. Ability to hold people accountable for performance.

Business Acumen: Expert business acumen acquired through many years of strategic corporate leadership experience, including a demonstrated ability to deal with a highly regulated and complex railway and public environment. Solid understanding of strategic and financial planning. A proactive approach to assessing and improving financials. A demonstrated track record in developing and implementing commercially viable business strategies and initiatives. Confident in managing quality and enterprise asset management systems.

Change Management Skills: Expert change management skills with the ability to influence others at all levels across the enterprise, and the experience to initiate, lead and stabilize organizational and culture change. Supports and encourages new ideas and approaches to enhance performance and results, takes intelligent risks, and helps others to engage in the change process. Expert problem-solving and decision-making skills, with ability to diagnose and make recommendations on the organization’s most critical issues.

Customer Focus:  Demonstrated experience in building a culture with the customer at its centre. Solutions oriented in order to meet customer needs.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Expert interpersonal, communication and consensus building skills, demonstrating a high degree of emotional intelligence, with the ability to provide significant contributions at the Board (BCRTC and WCE) and executive team levels, and to address the highest level of sensitive and political challenges both inside and outside the organization. Inspiring, motivating, passionate and influential.

Media Relations:  Experience responding to media requests and interviews, acting as a spokesperson for BCRTC and WCE. Able to communicate effectively in a wide range of arenas and to the general public through the media. Adept in issues management and media relations ensuring consistency and alignment handling high profile, sensitive, and time-constrained matters.

Systems Transformation: Demonstrates critical thinking at the systems level to identify current and anticipated issues, solve problems, and analyze options for change, balancing short term demands with longer term considerations, strategically incorporating best practices, emerging trends and models for service delivery. Successful at managing significant change in a complex and dynamic organization.

Political Acuity: Understands the political dynamics of municipal, provincial and federal stakeholders and an appointed Board. Possesses the ability to build consensus in a large and complex organization with many internal and external stakeholders. Can effectively read organizational and human dynamics; sensitive to the governmental, public, and stakeholder context in which a public facing organization functions. Demonstrated ability to deal with a highly regulated and complex transportation and public environment.

Relationship Skills: A track record of establishing and maintaining productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Devotes appropriate time and energy to establishing and maintaining networks. Internally, can engage people across the organization and foster buy-in to new ideas and concepts; externally, is an effective and credible representative of the organization. An exceptional communicator. Comfortable in an external facing role where he/she will work closely with the Board, the media and with other stakeholders.

Personal Characteristics:  High integrity. Honest and straightforward. High emotional intelligence. Strong moral compass, approachable, and visible throughout the organization. Treats others with the utmost respect and truly cares for employees.