New City Planning Manager Hired
The purpose of this memo is to inform the Mayor and Members of Council that after an extensive internal and external recruitment process, Marcia Wallace has been selected as the new General Manager (GM) of Planning, Development and Building Services (PDBS), effective June 16, 2025.
Marcia most recently served as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Corporation of the County of Prince Edward where she managed a diverse portfolio with 10 departments, delivering a broad range of municipal services to a community experiencing considerable growth and change. She was responsible for all financial aspects of the corporation including combined operating and capital budgets of more than $200 million. During her five years as CAO, Marcia also led the creation of a 10-year community plan, developed a Corporate Strategic Plan with measurable benchmarks, led process modernization and a comprehensive by-law review, and established an industry-led Destination Management and Marketing Corporation.
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This is a release from the City of Ottawa:
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Prior to her role as CAO, Marcia gained nearly 20 years in various leadership roles with the Ontario provincial government working on high-profile files related to the environment and the economy, housing, infrastructure and municipal governance. In her last role with the Province, she served as the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, where she led the service transformation of the Building Code regulation to align with the National Code, and streamlined development approvals to support both the Housing Supply Action Plan and Ontario’s Open for Business Objectives.
Marcia has vast expertise in urban, suburban and rural planning, public administration and transformative leadership within both the municipal and provincial contexts. Throughout her career, Marcia has cultivated strong relationships with key community groups, the development sector, various levels of government and Indigenous communities.
Marcia is a true public sector leader with a proven track record of building high-performing and engaged teams. An integrative thinker, transparent and effective communicator, Marcia focuses on evidence-based decision-making and innovative solutions. I am confident she will lead the team in PDBS to success in an inspiring and empowering way while delivering on the priorities of Council, the organization and the evolving landscape of our city.
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Marcia is a registered planning professional and has a Ph.D in Planning from the University of Waterloo, a Masters of Arts in Political Studies from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Calgary.
I want to take a moment to recognize and thank Vivi Chi for serving as Interim GM of PDBS while the executive recruitment process for a permanent GM took place. Vivi has been instrumental in providing stability and leadership to the department, while working with the team to advance city-wide transformative planning initiatives including the Official Plan, Transportation Master Plan, Zoning By-law update and Lansdowne. I am pleased to share that Vivi will assume the role of Special Advisor of Planning, effective June 16, 2025. As Special Advisor, Vivi will work closely with Marcia to ensure seamless business continuity and a smooth leadership transition, while continuing to advance a number of high-profile projects.
The senior leadership team continues to invest significantly in succession planning to ensure both the short- and long-term success of the organization. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,
Wendy Stephanson
City Manager
c.c.: Senior Leadership Team
Extended Senior Leadership Team
Nathalie Gougeon, Auditor General
Sonia Bebbington, CEO, Ottawa Public Library
Dr. Trevor Arnason, MOH, Ottawa Public Health
Chief Stubbs, Ottawa Police Service
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WHY would Marcia do this to herself? Leave a nice position in a better climate both politically and climate for the MORAS of OTTAWA I wish her best of fortune and she may come to understand the the pay is simply not worth the aggravation.
Agree.. This job is a poison chalice. She has lots of experience it appears but all of it appears to have been in the public sector and little to no direct experience in delivering housing or economic activity from the private sector and likely little understanding of the details of a balance sheet and a proforma.
I wonder how many private industry applications the City received.
Very interesting!
Vivi Chi was being groomed for years to eventually move into the GM role by a previous GM as part of their succession plan.That included creating a new position for her and giving her specialised training, both internal and external. It seems a pretty major slap in the face to her for them to bring in an outsider. Perhaps they wanted someone for the longer term and decided she was too close to retirement for the GM position.
Is the creation of this Special Advisor of Planning position her consolation prize for not getting the GM job and how much is that going to cost us? How long will the ‘Special Advisor’ position last – is this a permanent position? I’d love to see a job description for this role to find out, among other things, what the ‘value-added’ is for the City.
She has been with the Region and then the City for well over 35 years so maybe this is to carry her to retirement. With the reorganization of the Department, it’s quite likely her previous position isn’t there any more so she could have nowhere to return to from the interim post.
My sympathies to Marcia Wallace. I suppose she’ll find out soon enough why people stay away from City jobs in droves. Moving from a municipality with a total budget of $200M to be a part of one with a multi-billion dollar budget will be a big step. Good luck to her and let’s hope she’s up to it.
She does have CAO experience, albeit in a very small municipality. Makes me wonder if she’s part of Wendy Stephanson’s succession planning.
Voter,
Agree, all very interesting and very valid points.
Bulldog, please archive The Voter’s comment so it isn’t lost as time moves on.