Ian Jarvis appointed Vancouver, B.C., TransLink CEO

TransLink's Board of Directors has chosen to go with organizational and regional experience in its choice of a new leader for the organization by appointing one of TransLink's original executives, Ian Jarvis, as the transportation authority's new Chief Executive Officer. The Board appointed Jarvis interim CEO last November and, according to Chair Dale Parker, the decision to forego an executive search for a permanent replacement for Tom Prendergast was based on Jarvis' ‘deep and long experience' in the organization and the strong endorsement he received within TransLink and from its stakeholders.

Chair Parker said, "In
our annual performance review, the Board canvasses TransLink’s senior
management and a broad range of our stakeholders to assess how well our CEO is
meeting a range of expectations for leadership as well as financial and
operational results. These expectations are considerable given the important
role the organization plays in the region’s economic, environmental and social
wellbeing.

"Although Ian had been
interim CEO for only a short time, he quickly demonstrated strong leadership.
This, along with the ringing endorsement offered by his management team and
stakeholders was more than enough to convince the Board that he had the
qualities we wanted in TransLink’s leader," Parker said.

Ian received his Bachelor
of Commerce from the University of British Columbia in 1978 and is a member of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. Prior to entering
public service with the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro
Vancouver), he served seven years in private practice.

Jarvis participated in
TransLink’s creation, and from its inception in March 1999 to June 2001 he was
the Chief Financial Officer for both the GVRD and TransLink. In June 2001, he
accepted an offer to join TransLink full time as the Vice President of Finance.
He served as Chief Operating Officer from September 2003 to March 2007 where he
led the finance and corporate service functions as well as coordinating
corporate business planning processes. After leading TransLink’s effort to
found Canada’s first dedicated transit police force, Jarvis became a founding
member of the Transit Police Services Board in 2005 and continues to serve in
that function.

In February 2007 he
assumed the role of Vice-President of Finance and Corporate Services for Coast
Mountain Bus Company with responsibility for finance, human resources,
information systems and customer information.

Chair Parker said the
experience at Coast Mountain gave Jarvis valuable operations experience at
TransLink’s largest subsidiary. "Ian’s financial management strengths have
helped TransLink deliver outstanding financial results through some difficult
periods. He built on that during his time at Coast Mountain, rated as one of
the top five transit operations in the world, where he gained valuable
perspectives on operations and customer services, and he applied them
immediately when he became our interim CEO last November,’ Parker said.

Jarvis said his
priorities would be efficiency and organizational effectiveness, with an
emphasis on customer service and maximizing the value the public receives from
TransLink’s transportation program. "I was at the GVRD when our region’s
leaders created the Livable Region Strategic plan to ensure Metro Vancouver’s
future growth would be sustainable and safeguard our standing as one of the
best places on earth. At that time, we recognized that we had to plan growth
and transportation together, and that was the key influence that led to
TransLink’s creation.

"It’s an amazing
opportunity to lead TransLink at this point in its history. We’ve already
delivered significant improvements to our road, transit and cycling network,
and I’m going to be focused on having TransLink ready, organizationally and
financially, to deliver the services the public needs today and next round of
expansion our region needs for its future," Jarvis said.