The Canadian government has appointed Vancouver Airport Authority CEO Tamara Vrooman to chair its Canada Infrastructure Bank – a $35 billion Crown corporation designed to invest, and seek to attract private and institutional investors in infrastructure projects that generate revenue and are in the public interest.
Vrooman will continue to head the airport authority.
She will be the third chair at the four-year-old bank, which aims to construct public infrastructure, such as public transit, broadband networks and clean-energy projects.
Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna, who made the announcement January 28, said the appointment was effective immediately.
“Tamara is an excellent choice for Chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank," McKenna said. "She brings a strong financial and infrastructure background, and important leadership skills to the role."
Before Vrooman assumed the role of CEO at the airport authority, she led Canada’s largest community credit union, VanCity, through the 2008 financial crisis, and served as B.C.’s deputy minister of finance – a role in which she steered the ministry’s $36 billion fiscal plan, resulting in three AAA credit rating upgrades.
"She has the right background and experience, and she knows how to get things done,” McKenna said.
Vrooman had worked with McKenna when Vrooman co-chaired the federal government's 2018 Panel On Climate, in which she advised McKenna and then-Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
Vrooman said in a statement that she is honoured to be appointed.
"We have a vitally important job to do in fostering economic growth in Canada, at an especially critical time, through attracting and leveraging private investment for critical infrastructure projects," she said. "I’m also delighted to work with [CEO] Ehren Cory and the board of directors to ensure the CIB fulfills its mandate."
