Hydro Ottawa CEO “most powerful woman”

Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 celebrates trailblazing leadership across utilities, renewable energy, and public service, highlighting Rosemarie Leclair of Hydro Ottawa and the Women's Executive Network's national recognition of female executives.

Rosemarie T. Leclair, president and CEO of the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies, received the prestigious 2010 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards, in the professionals, acknowledging her many contributions to Canada's energy sector.

Ms. Leclair previously earned this honour in 2007.

The Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards is Canada's most recognizable award for the country's highest achieving female leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, where developments like the Hydro One CEO appointment underscore the profile of leadership today. Leclair joins a community of 522 women across Canada who has received this recognition.

"Through her steadfast commitment to excellence, Rosemarie Leclair's leadership has transformed the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies into one of our country's leading integrated utilities, poised to capture all the promise of the burgeoning energy industry, as shown by record investments for Hydro Ottawa in recent years," said Pierre Richard, chair of the board of Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. and Hydro Ottawa Limited. "We are very proud to have Ms. Leclair leading our group of companies, and we would like to congratulate her on this accomplishment."

As president and CEO of the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies, Leclair leads one of Ontario's largest electricity providers, which has achieved a smart meter milestone while it distributes electricity to 300,000 customers in the Ottawa area and generates 160,000 megawatt hours of clean, renewable energy per year. A seasoned public policy and strategic management professional, Leclair has served as deputy city manager of Public Works and Services for the City of Ottawa, and as a special advisor to the Province of Ontario.

"With vision and determination, Rosemarie has advanced the environmental sustainability, echoed by sustainability leadership across the sector, and social prosperity of our community," Mr. Richard added. "Under her leadership, the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies has learned to compete, to grow, and to achieve, delivering more than $87 million in dividends to the City of Ottawa, its sole shareholder. The company also continues to earn accolades for its innovations and best practices, including being named one of "Top 25 Employers" in the National Capital Region. This award is clearly well deserved."

"Every year, we honour the exceptional female leaders of Canada," said Pamela Jeffery, founder of the Women's Executive Network. "They each have remarkable achievements and Top 100 is a mark of their success and how they have supported their communities, companies, and organizations, with examples such as Canada Post recognition that spotlight collaborative impact. Our Top 100 community is a powerful group of women who are at the top of their game."

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