After an extensive career as a senior public servant at the municipal and provincial levels, including seven years as an Ontario Deputy Minister and eleven years as city manager of Burlington ON and later CAO for Hamilton-Wentworth Region, Michael Fenn undertook a new career direction in 2005. In a succession of CEO positions, he has provided transitional executive leadership to establish new organizations or to provide direction to organizations in transition. These CEO assignments have included being the first CEO of both the Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network, and the regional transportation authority for the greater Toronto and Hamilton area, Metrolinx; interim CEO of eHealth Ontario; interim President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI); and, interim CEO of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC).
Michael Fenn has been recognized as a public-sector champion of client-satisfaction through “customer focus”, productivity improvement and strategic management. He has been a Director and Vice-Chair of the $40+ billion OMERS pension fund, as well as serving on the boards of many public and non-profit entities, including currently the Board of Governors of McMaster University and the Assn. of Municipalities’ Municipal Employers Pension Centre of Ontario (MEPCO).
His career achievements have been acknowledged by a number of professional awards, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Distinction in Public Administration for Ontario in 1997, AMCTO’s award for career service to municipal administration in 2000, the OMAA’s 2006 Baldwin Award and the “Canada 125 Medal” for community service to Burlington. In 2010, he was one of two Ontarians added to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s Honour Roll. Playing a leadership role on as part of a government team, his work on environmental issues has twice been recognized by Ontario’s Environment Commissioner (preservation of the Oak Ridges Moraine, and the Alfred Bog, near Ottawa). Developed at his initiative, Ontario’s ground-breaking municipal performance management program (performance indicators for local governments) has gained international recognition, led to the creation of the Ontario Knowledge Network (promotion of municipal best-practices), and received the 2011 Amethyst Award from the Ontario Public Service.
In addition to two undergraduate degrees from York University, Mr. Fenn holds an MA and a Diploma in Urban/Regional Public Administration, both from the University of Western Ontario. His articles and presentations on public policy and public administration have appeared in a number of books, journals and conferences.
Michael was born and raised in downtown Toronto. He enjoys cycling, canoeing, cross-country skiing, blues and opera, pen-and-ink drawing, and foreign travel, having visited over 40 countries. His consulting business, Fenn Advisory Services Inc., is based in Burlington, where he and Carolyn have lived since 1987. He is also a Senior Advisor to StrategyCorp and its clients.