Director, Office of Transformation and Strategy
Message to the Community
The City of Vaughan is a rapidly changing and dynamic organization. I am honoured to lead a team of professionals who are dedicated to working with City staff and our leaders to spearhead transformational change across all departments.
The Office of Transformation and Strategy works with our partners in every City department to determine strategic directions, set priorities and objectives, and report on our progress as we meet the goals of the City. We are here to provide support and guidance, and to help shape the culture of innovation and service excellence.
Our mandate includes the development of the 2022-2026 Term of Council Service Excellence Strategic Plan, which depicts Council’s priorities and helps guide the organization’s efforts.
We are also responsible for what I refer to as an Integrated Management Framework, which brings together our commitment to excellence in project management, change management, corporate performance measures, enterprise risk management, innovation and continuous business process improvements to enhance operational performance and the citizen experience.
It is about aligning our efforts, skills and capacity to empower and enable staff to provide service excellence in everything we do.
With so much on the go, I am inspired to come to work every day to collaborate with my team and colleagues, and to contribute to such a productive and dynamic City.
Kathy Kestides
Director, Office of Transformation and Strategy
Profile - Director, Office of Transformation and Strategy
Kathy Kestides
Director, Office of Transformation and Strategy
Kathy Kestides joined the City of Vaughan in November 2013 as Manager of Learning and Organizational Development. She has been in her current role as Director of the Office of Transformation and Strategy since July 2018.
Ms. Kestides has more than 30 years of experience working in the public and private sectors providing her expertise in strategic leadership, business transformation, process improvement, human resources and culture change.
She holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Waterloo, a graduate diploma in public administration from the University of Western Ontario, and a master’s certificate in project management and a master’s certificate in municipal leadership from the Schulich School of Business.
Ms. Kestides is a certified Change Management practitioner. She has a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is a certified behavioural and motivational analyst.
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The Office of Transformation and Strategy
The Office of Transformation and Strategy department provides strategic support to the entire corporation – planning, guiding, advising, consulting, analytics and reporting. The department’s role is to integrate and support key management frameworks and practices by bridging efforts and leveraging results. This is done by providing consistent approaches, decision-making models, data analytics and oversight, in addition to ensuring the success of key strategic initiatives and supporting business effectiveness and efficiencies.
Key functions for the Office of Transformation and Strategy include:
- Business Planning
- Business Process Improvement
- Corporate Performance Measures
- Enterprise Change Management
- Enterprise Project Management
- Enterprise Risk Management
- Governance and Accountability Frameworks
- Strategic Innovation
- Strategic Planning