The Art of the Deal: Public‑Private Partnerships

Mary Brooks (Chair)
Dr. Mary R. Brooks is Professor Emerita at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business and a founding editor of Research in Transportation Business & Management. In 2016, she was appointed Chair of the Marine Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She recently chaired the Council of Canadian Academies’ assessment of The Value of Commercial Marine Shipping to Canada. Her research focuses on competition policy in liner shipping, port strategic management and short sea shipping. She has authored and published more than 25 books and technical reports, more than 25 book chapters, and more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. She is a co-winner of the 2018 Onassis Prize in Shipping.

Matti Siemiatycki
Matti Siemiatycki is Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure Planning and Finance and Interim Director of the University of Toronto School of Cities. His work focuses on delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, and the effective integration of infrastructure into the fabric of cities. His recent studies explore the value for money of delivering infrastructure mega-projects through public-private partnerships, the causes and cures for cost overruns on large infrastructure projects, the development of innovative mixed use buildings, and the diversity gap in the infrastructure industry workforce. Siemiatycki is a frequent media commentator on urban planning and infrastructure related topics, and served on the board of directors of the public agency Waterfront Toronto. He earned a PhD in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia. 

Matti Siemiatycki on why Policy Matters
"Public-private partnerships have become increasingly popular to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects across Canada and around the world. Public-private partnerships are used to provide the public infrastructure facilities that shape the health, livability and prosperity of communities, such as hospitals, schools, roads, transit projects and recreation centres. Given the importance of the infrastructure built through public-private partnerships, it  is critical that this model of project delivery is done in such a way that the projects meet the public interest."