Kent Kirkpatrick

Affiliation

Former City Manager, City of Ottawa

Committee membership

CIHR Audit Committee

Biography

Kent Kirkpatrick is one of Canada's most experienced municipal executives. During his career, spanning more than 40 years, he has obtained extensive experience in a wide variety of areas including organizational leadership, policy development and governance support. He is a former senior executive for the City of Ottawa. During his 16-year tenure with the city from 2000-2016, he held several key positions including City Manager and General Manager, Corporate Services.

As City Manager, Kent served as the City Council’s chief policy advisor and led the City’s workforce in implementing Council decisions. While overseeing policy development and major projects, Kent worked to ensure that the organization was accessible and responsive to citizens, and actively promoted the City’s interests with other levels of government and external organizations. In addition, he led new initiatives to advance key priorities, which included: the implementation of City Council’s long-term vision for Ottawa; building strong relationships with the community; improving corporate planning and performance reporting; and improving staff morale and commitment.

Prior to his role as a senior executive with the City of Ottawa, Kent spent 12 years with the former Region of Ottawa-Carleton. He held vital positions within the Region’s local government which included Director of Administration, Health Department, and Director of Financial Services/Deputy Treasurer/Acting Treasurer in the Finance Department.

Following his retirement as City Manager for the City of Ottawa in 2016, Kent has gained experience leading Departmental Audit Committees (DAC) and advising deputy heads in the Government of Canada. He is a current Board Member of Transport Canada’s DAC and is the former Chair of the Infrastructure Canada DAC. His experience and expertise will enable CIHR's Audit Committee to meet its responsibilities in providing effective oversight in key areas of the agency’s business and advising the Deputy Head on organizational risk, governance, and management control.

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