One of three new appointees to the TransLink board for 2017 is a former PartnershipsBC CEO and Bombardier project director.
Professional engineer Sarah Clark is the CEO of Fraser River Pile and Dredge who spent seven years with the PartnershipsBC infrastructure Crown corporation, including four years as CEO. Clark also held various positions with Bombardier from 1996 to 2005, including project director involved with bidding, construction and testing of light rail transit systems. Bombardier is the financially troubled, Quebec-based supplier of cars for the new Evergreen Line.
Clark isn’t the first person with ties to a prominent TransLink supplier to join the board. In December 2007, retired SNC-Lavalin executive vice-president Robert Tribe was appointed for a two-year term. At the time, Tribe was an advisor to SNC-Lavalin’s Vancouver-based transport division, which built the Canada Line and eventually was chosen to build the Evergreen Line.
Clark is joined by Janet Austin, CEO of the YWCA of Greater Vancouver, and Anne Giardini, a lawyer and chancellor of Simon Fraser University. They were selected by the TransLink Mayors’ Council.
Former Weyerhaeuser Company president Giardini was in the news last spring for hosting a $10,000-a-head fundraising dinner with 10 people at her home for Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberals. The event sparked public debate about B.C.’s lack of political fundraising limits. The NDP and Democracy Watch unsuccessfully complained to the conflict of interest commissioner about Clark’s participation at a private fundraiser.
The trio replaces professional corporate board director Brenda Eaton, retired Westminster Savings CEO Barry Forbes and TransLink chair Don Rose, a lawyer with BLG.
