St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada’s Niagara region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario. St. Catharines carries the official nickname “The Garden City” and is located between the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton Area and the Fort Erie/Buffalo Border. With a population of 133,000 residents, the city is strategically located in the heart of the Niagara Peninsula and offers excellent access to the major markets of both Canada and the United States. Manufacturing has traditionally been the city’s dominant industry and General Motors Canada was the city’s largest employer, a distinction now held by the District School Board of Niagara. Over the past few years, St. Catharines economic strategy has been to promote Downtown St. Catharines as a digital media hub, attracting many digital businesses to the downtown core. St. Catharines lies on one of the main telecommunications backbones between Canada and the United States, and as a result a number of call centers operate in the city. St. Catharines is a city that unites its vibrant future with its rich past boasting over 1,000 acres of parks and trails, including the scenic Welland Canal, encouraging residents to develop a healthy and active lifestyle. The city’s quality of life is enhanced by year-round events, cultural attractions, and a wealth of sporting opportunities for people of all ages.
St. Catharines is home to Brock University, a modern comprehensive university located on the Niagara Escarpment. McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine opened a satellite campus in St. Catharines in September 2008. The Hamilton, Ontario based university educates 28 first-year medical students in local hospitals within the city. Ridley College, located near the city’s downtown core, is a distinguished co-educational boarding and day school. A campus of Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology is located near the city’s east end. Niagara College is the only fully licensed institution teaching winery in Canada. The District School Board of Niagara is responsible for managing a school system of nearly 119 faculties, containing 6 secondary schools in the City of St. Catharines. The Niagara Catholic School Board manages 61 elementary and secondary schools within the Niagara Region and operates 3 Catholic secondary schools within the city.
The City of St. Catharines requires a dynamic, strategic, collaborative leader and an independent thinker with strong political acumen for their Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The successful candidate will possess exceptional interpersonal and trust building skills, with the ability to build and support collaborative teams, as well as foster strong relationships with the Mayor, City Council, Region of Niagara, Government Agencies and the rest of the stakeholders within the community.
You are a proven, confident, dynamic, high energy and engaging leader and a strategic thinker, with strong team building skills, who has demonstrated success as an accomplished senior leader within the municipal or broader public sector or related environments. Your exceptional interpersonal skills have earned you a reputation for building a trustworthy, positive, accountable work culture, as well as developing and inspiring strong management teams and staff.
Having completed your university education, preferably in Business or Public Administration, you also have a minimum of 10 years of experience working within the municipal government or the broader public sector or related environments in a senior management capacity. Ideally you would also have prior experience with lean six sigma and continuous improvement.
It is anticipated that shortlisting of candidates for interviews will take place around September and the interviews will be conducted during late September, early October. If interested in exploring this further and for a complete Position Profile, please contact Kartik Kumar, Managing Director at Legacy Executive Search Partners at 416-271-4397 or kartik.kumar@lesp.ca.