The Globe and Mail

“I wanted to change the world,” recalls Hydro Ottawa CEO Rosemarie Leclair, who began her career in civic government in Ottawa before landing the top job at the city’s hydro utility. “And I wanted to do that in a way that provided some balance in life.”

Laura Formusa is CEO of Hydro One. She acknowledges it is surprising that a female lawyer has emerged as CEO at Hydro One given the characteristics of the work force. She says one reason for her success is that she worked hard to understand the technology from the time she began 30 years ago. “I couldn’t possibly turn the switches – you wouldn’t want me there. But I am able to have a decent discussion,” she says.

Karen Kinsley, CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says the public sector “got a jump” on the private sector because of a long-standing emphasis on employment equity in hiring. Once women were well-represented in the work force, the focus logically evolved into a greater emphasis on management training programs and other development initiatives. “That has been more of the focus in the last little while, rather than just the notion of representation and equity,” Ms. Kinsley says.

Marilyn McLaren (seen with her colleagues behind her) is CEO of the Manitoba Public Insurance Corp. “It has to be transparent, we have to be accountable for the processes we use to select people for promotion or hiring,” she says. “And I really do believe those processes do allow the most capable candidates to bubble to the top.” At Manitoba Public Insurance, where four of the seven members of the executive committee are women, hiring for management positions now requires approvals from executives at two levels higher in the organization – a scrutiny intended to ensure the process was inclusive and defensible.

Jane Peverett is the former head of British Columbia Transmission Corp. She left the power line company in 2008. She says says she suspects one reason so many women have risen to the top jobs in government could be they are simply more willing to work for less money. She earned roughly the same as CEO of BCTC as she earned as CEO of Union Gas Ltd. before that – but only if she excludes the stock and options portion of her former pay. “I think there’s perhaps more women willing to take that kind of compensation package than there are men,” she said.

Pat Jacobsen is former CEO of Translink, the Vancouver transit authority. She says the key to success for women lies in identifying people early who have high potential, and then training them throughout their careers for progressively more senior jobs. A former deputy minister in Ontario, she says she is the product of an era in Ontario when a cadre of women was selected and carefully honed for leadership with management training programs.