Case Study
Vancouver Fraser Port AuthorityIndustry: Ports, Terminals, Infrastructure & Logistics.
The Port of Vancouver, managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is Canada’s largest port and a Pacific gateway linking trade with 170+ world economies. It spans 16,000 hectares of water and 1,500+ hectares of federal port land across Metro Vancouver, supporting 29 major marine terminals, 1,000+ tenants, and three Class I railways, moving record volumes (158 million tonnes in 2024) across 120+ km of shoreline-equivalent jurisdiction and a diversified cargo base that anchors the Canadian economy.
The port operates across three key lines of business:
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Industrial real estate: stewardship and development of a large industrial land base across port jurisdictions
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Infrastructure: delivering nation-scale capacity expansions and new waterfront industrial land.
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Supply-chain operations: coordinating terminals, rail, trucking and marine services to keep cargo flowing
Intro
Strategy that holds, decisions that move, results that repeat.
The Port moved from fragmented execution to a stable operating system anchored by a rolling 3–5-year strategy and a single investable portfolio. Clear decision rights, a tiered cadence, OKRs, and a Strategy/PMO “source of truth” created consistency across lines of business. Rebuilt People/HR strengthened manager enablement, leadership pipelines, and labour readiness. Net effect: faster, better-sequenced decisions, reduced disruption risk, and performance that repeats quarter after quarter.
Details
The Transformation Imperative: Converting Institutional Strategy into Consistent, Measurable Behavior
Challenge
The Port of Vancouver faced three intertwined gaps.
- Strategy: An unclear, non-enduring corporate strategy with fragmented priorities and misaligned capital and partnership decisions.
- People: The People/HR function required a complete rebuild, including a new people strategy, workforce planning, top talent acquisition, labour relations, leadership development, rewards and recognition and capability rebuild after significant institutional-knowledge loss.
- Modernization: Execution relied heavily on individual expertise with limited standardized processes and systems. The absence of organization-wide data, handoff clarity, and analytics impaired decision-making and scalability.
In short, exceptional talent delivered results, but the absence of a durable strategy and enterprise operating system made it hard to scale execution and maintain continuity through leadership change.
Solution
Developed a 3-5 rolling corporate strategy that was built to withstand major disruptions and geopolitical shocks—and translated it into an investable portfolio across the lines of business. A simple operating model made it run: clear decision rights, a tiered meeting cadence, OKRs with quarterly reviews, and a Strategy and Project Management Office was set up as the single source of truth. We rebuilt People/HR (workforce planning, leadership pipelines, manager enablement, labour relations) and modernized execution with standardized processes, a minimal systems stack, and knowledge capture to protect institutional memory. A partner governance model tied industrial land, infrastructure, and supply-chain initiatives together—creating a repeatable cadence of strategy → quarterly portfolio review → focused execution sprints → transparent dashboards → learn/improve cycles.Strategic Initiatives Portfolio Completion Rate (Increased)
25%
Leadership Pipeline Depth
98%
System Adoption Rate (Increased)
Stakeholder satisfaction
89%
Testimonial
“Parm is a strategist who finishes. Her commanding executive presence enables her to effectively present to the Board while staying closely connected to every level of the organization. In politically complex contexts, she remains composed under pressure, sets bold negotiation targets, and lands them with discipline and transparency. Parm brought vision, clarity, and discipline to our strategic realignment, ensuring every initiative was purposeful and every decision well informed. Thanks to her leadership, our operating model moved from complexity to coherence, bridging diverse business lines and strengthening collaboration. Her integrated strengths in post-merger integration, corporate strategy, and people leadership have built trust, developed talent, and enabled our teams to execute at pace—delivering results that endure and equipping the Port of Vancouver for a resilient future.”
Robin Silvester, President & CEO, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
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