City of Ottawa announces new head of OC Transpo

Renée Amilcar is the City of Ottawa's new general manager of transit services, replacing longtime municipal employee and OC Transpo boss John Manconi who is retiring at the end of this month.

Amilcar, who officially starts Oct. 18, has been selected after "an extensive, international executive search" to fill the position, according to a city memo sent Monday to Ottawa's mayor and city council.

She is an industrial engineer who worked at Pratt & Whitney Canada, Nortel Networks and Montreal's public transit organization, Société de Transport de Montréal (STM). She was first director of bus maintenance, according to the memo, before being promoted to executive director of bus services in 2014.

"It was in [Montreal] that Renée first earned a reputation as an exemplary servant leader with a strong capacity to understand operational issues and manage and engage multiple teams," wrote city manager Steve Kanellakos.

"I look forward to seeing what innovations Renée will bring from her experience at the STM."

Amilcar was also a bus committee chair of the International Association of Public Transit and received an award for outstanding leadership from the Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce in 2018. She currently sits on three boards: Concours musical international de Montréal, Centre patronal SST and the Montreal Student Foundation.

Manconi, after a 32-year career with the City of Ottawa, leaves his post Sept. 30 amid a couple of recent LRT derailments currently placing pressure on the department and the city. 

Amilcar's informal transition has already started and the city's rail director Michael Morgan will lead the department overseeing a "safe return to service" of Confederation Line 1 during this time, reads the memo.

"The LRT file will remain a top priority in my office both during the transition and afterwards," said Kanellakos.