Appointment of Chief Service Officer

I am pleased to announce the following appointment to lead the TTC Service Delivery Group.

Rick Leary is appointed to the role of Chief Service Officer (CSO).

Rick joins us from York Region Transit where, in the role of General Manager, he has overseen huge improvements in transit service. Prior to that, Rick undertook a series of senior management roles, including Chief Operating Officer of Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.

Rick’s primary role will be to drive up operational performance and customer satisfaction on our surface transit network and in our subway stations. Reporting to me, Rick is responsible for all front-of-house (customer-facing) activity, including bus and streetcar transportation, transit enforcement and group station management.

In addition, Rick has specific direction from me to continue work to transform the underlying culture in the Service Delivery Group, recognizing the link between management style and employee motivation and performance.

Rick’s appointment, and the recent appointment of Gary Shortt as Chief Operating Officer, completes the restructure of my Executive Team. With Rick’s appointment, Chris Upfold will resume his substantive role of Chief Customer Officer, responsible for service planning, strategy and customer communications. I have also asked Chris to take on the role of Deputy CEO. In addition, Gemma Piemontese’s role is renamed Chief People Officer and John O’Grady becomes Chief Safety Officer to reflect their positions on the Executive.

Rick will join the TTC on May 5th. Please join me in welcoming him to his new role – one that is critical to our ongoing drive to deliver a transit system that makes Toronto proud.

Andy Byford
Chief Executive Officer
March 28, 2014