Canada’s Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, has announced that Thao Pham has been appointed as Chairperson for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority for a term of five years.
Thao Pham is a former senior Canadian government official with 30 years of experience in leadership, management and governance. She last served as Deputy Minister, COVID-19 Recovery, and previously as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Operations), in the Privy Council Office. Prior to that, she served as Associate Deputy Minister of Transport Canada. She also held a number of senior positions, including at Infrastructure Canada, Canada Economic Development Agency for Quebec Regions, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and Environment Canada.
Over the course of her career, she oversaw national programs and large-scale operations across the country, including in the areas of transportation and infrastructure; contributed to the development of economic and environmental policies; coordinated major policy initiatives and the management of major crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, at the highest level of decision-making. She has built multipartite collaboration with partners of different levels of government, non-profit organizations, the private sector, and academia.
She is a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. She holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from Université du Québec à Montréal and a B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University.