Senior Level Employees

Senior management members are appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act to manage the day-to-day operations of the Transportation Safety Board.

Gerard McDonald
Appointed Executive Director 19 June 2006

GERARD MCDONALD was born in Montréal, Quebec, and was raised for the most part in the Toronto, Ontario, area. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 1982 and complemented this with a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa in 1989.

Mr. McDonald is a professional engineer who has spent the greater part of his public service career working in the transportation sector. Upon graduation from university in 1982, he was hired by Transport Canada to work on the inspection, evaluation and development of cost-shared highway construction programs. After a number of years, he expanded his perspective by delving into policy issues affecting all modes of transport, first as the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy and Coordination and subsequently as Departmental Liaison for the Minister of Transport, where he served under three successive ministers.

Mr. McDonald returned to the operational side of Transport Canada in 1996 as Director of Marine Personnel Standards and Pilotage. He followed this with assignments as Director General of Human Resources and Executive Director of the Government On Line project. In 2001, he moved to the Privy Council Office as Director of Operations for Regulatory Affairs, where he oversaw the coordination of all regulatory submissions requiring Governor in Council approval. In 2002, Mr. McDonald was named Director General of Marine Safety at Transport Canada. In this capacity, he was responsible for the full spectrum of federal activities governing the safety of shipping and protection of the marine environment.

Mr. McDonald and his wife, Norma (née MacKinnon), have five children.