Biography

Nathalie Drouin holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK), a postdoctoral degree from Polytechnique Montréal, an MBA from HEC Montréal, and a Bachelor of Law from the Université de Sherbrooke.

From 2016 to 2023, she served as Executive Director of KHEOPS, an international research consortium focused on the governance of major infrastructure projects. She currently holds the INFRA-S Chair and serves as:

Full Professor of Project Management in the Department of Management at the École des sciences de la gestion of Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM)

Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

Her research focuses on the governance of major infrastructure projects, the integration of non-financial benefits, the social impacts of large infrastructure projects, organizational project management, balanced leadership in projects, and megaprojects.

She serves on the board of CARGOM, the metropolitan logistics and transportation cluster of Montréal, and is a member of the Global PM World Academic Advisor Team and the Program Advisory Council for the PM Program at Northeastern University in Toronto.

She has also served as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia), Associate Dean of Research at ESG UQAM, and Director of Graduate Programs in Project Management.

Earlier in her career, she practiced law in international law firms and worked as a consultant for corporations and government organizations in the fields of strategy and project management.

Nathalie Drouin has received four prestigious research awards:

IPMA Global Research Award (2019) for her work on balanced leadership in projects

Walt Lipke Award (Australia) for her work on governance and control of major projects

PMI Cleland Award (2021) for the book Organizational Project Management: Theory and Implementation

PMI Research Achievement Award (2022)

These awards were received in collaboration with her colleagues Ralf Müller (BI Norwegian Business School) and Shankar Sankaran (University of Technology Sydney).

 

A seasoned engineer and recognized executive leader, Renée Amilcar has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mobilité Infra Québec (MIQ) since September 2025. She is leading the establishment of the agency, whose mission is to analyze opportunities, plan, and deliver complex public transportation projects across Québec, with the goal of improving efficiency in project planning and ensuring rigorous execution.

With a strategic vision focused on performance, innovation, and public service, she brings more than 25 years of operational experience in complex and highly regulated environments.

Before joining MIQ, Ms. Amilcar served as General Manager of OC Transpo (City of Ottawa) starting in 2021. Under her leadership, she restored technical rigor, rebuilt public trust, and mobilized teams around a culture of performance and transparency, at a time when the organization was facing several critical operational and reputational challenges related to the light rail network.

Prior to that, she spent 19 years at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), where she rose through the ranks to oversee the entire bus network and its more than 5,300 employees. She notably led one of the largest fleet expansions in Montréal’s history, negotiated major collective agreements, and supported the transition toward more sustainable and electrified operations.

In 2023, she became the first woman in 138 years to serve as President of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). In this role, she represented nearly 2,000 member organizations across more than 100 countries and played a key role in global discussions on sustainable mobility, equity, technological innovation, and public transportation financing.

In April 2024, she was invited to the United Nations as UITP President—another first in the organization’s history—where she delivered a compelling speech on the importance of public transportation and its essential role in sustainable development.

Recognized for her mobilizing leadership, expertise in operations and heavy infrastructure management, and strong partnership-building abilities, Ms. Amilcar is known for her human-centered approach, strategic mindset, and ability to transform complex challenges into opportunities for progress and development. Her career reflects a constant commitment to making mobility more efficient, accessible, resilient, and environmentally responsible.

 

Daniel Farina has been President and Chief Executive Officer of CDPQ Infra since January 2026. In this role, he is responsible for the overall leadership of the subsidiary’s activities, including the delivery and operation of the REM, the Québec City tramway project, and the Alto high-speed rail project between Québec City and Toronto.

The delivery of the Alto project has been entrusted to the Cadence consortium, owned at 85% by CDPQ Infra, on behalf of the federal Crown corporation overseeing the project.

Farina brings more than 25 years of experience in managing and structuring major infrastructure projects around the world. He has been involved in large-scale infrastructure transactions in the healthcare, energy, and transportation sectors.

Prior to his appointment, he served as Managing Director and Vice President of Operations.

Before joining CDPQ Infra in 2019, he worked for OHLA Group, first as the director responsible for the new Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) project, and later as the global director responsible for public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

Throughout his career, he has held roles as an engineer, manager, and director on infrastructure projects in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.

He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Spain, an Executive MBA (EMBA) from IE Business School in Madrid, and has completed executive education programs at Stanford University and Harvard University in the United States.

He is a member of the Order of Industrial Engineers of Madrid and has served on several boards of directors.

 

Maha Clour has served as Executive Project Director – Blue Line Project since January 2022.

In this role, she oversees all activities of the project office, which includes nearly 700 employees working primarily on the Blue Line extension project and the installation of a new train control system on both the existing Blue Line and the extended segment.

She is also responsible for managing relationships with project partners and negotiating with stakeholders to secure the authorizations required to deliver these projects.

In addition, she serves as Vice President and General Manager of Transgesco, a limited partnership responsible for generating non-fare revenues through the management of commercial, technological, and real estate activities.

 

Topics Covered

This panel will explore the major issues surrounding large-scale mobility and infrastructure projects:

• Governance of major projects with broad societal impact ;
• Interorganizational coordination and multi-stakeholder dynamics ;
• Public financing mechanisms and increasing accountability requirements ;
• Building social acceptability for major infrastructure projects.