During the 2023 UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Barcelona, Renée Amilcar, GM of Ottawa’s OC TRANSPO, was officially voted into office as first female President in the association’s 138-year history.

As GM of OC TRANSPO since 2021, Amilcar has 20 years of experience across public transport, and is a respected figure among UITP’s membership.

More About UITP’s First Female President

Beginning her career in Montreal, spending almost two decades with the Société de Transport de Montreal, in a variety of leadership positions, Amilcar made the move to Ottawa to lead the city’s public transit endeavors.

Educated at the Polytechnique Montreal and the University of Sherbrooke, she was awarded the Leadership Femme d’exception from the Quebec Chambre of Commerce in 2018.

An active Executive Board member of UITP since 2019 representing the bus industry, Amilcar has also been the Chair of the UITP Bus Assembly, sharing her extensive knowledge of the sector with our members.

“I am delighted to have been chosen as the next President of UITP. I have always valued my connection to the association, and I take on this new role with excitement, enthusiasm, and a desire to help advance UITP in any way that I can,” said Amilcar. “I will do my very best to represent the association with merit, and to engage with as many of the international membership as possible. I thank the Executive Board for putting their trust in me, and I cannot wait to get started.”

What’s Next for Amilcar

An active two-year term awaits the new President, as UITP works toward implementing its strategy to bring its first Annual Summit to Hamburg in 2025.

As the first female President of UITP, Amilcar holds the topics of diversity and inclusion, and a better gender balance within the sector, close to her heart.

She will work alongside UITP staff and members to shine a further spotlight on what needs to be done to bring more women into public transport as workers across all levels.

The new President played an active role in the association’s 2023 output for International Women’s Day (8 March) and will be working closely with UITP to further that message through its overarching focus on Women in Leadership.

Amilcar succeeds Khalid Alhogail, CEO and managing director of SAPTCO, the Saudi Arabia Public Transport Co.