Colleen has over 20 years of management experience, implementing successful service improvement and community engagement initiatives, in both the public and not-for-profit sectors. She was responsible for the development of the extensive public engagement and strategic communication strategy to support the development of the Regional Transportation Plan, introducing innovative engagement techniques with on-line options and Unconferences. She also led the community relations, stakeholder management and communications for the Georgetown South and Union Pearson Rail Link Environmental Assessment which received approval from the Ministry of the Environment.

Prior to joining Metrolinx, she was the Project Director for the highly successful 31-1 customer service initiative at the City of Toronto. This initiative was the largest service transformation project undertaken by the City since amalgamation. Colleen spent ten years leading change in organizational culture, training customer service teams to focus more on the needs of citizens, bringing together elected officials and bureaucrats to achieve positive results. Colleen led a number of corporate customer service initiatives including well-received on-line services, recognized with Gold Awards for excellence by the Public Sector Quality Fair. She was a member of the provincial taskforce to establish the new accessibility standards for the delivery of customer service. Colleen also brings extensive experience working with several community networks, providing innovative programming to disadvantaged groups during her 10-year tenure as a director with the YMCA of Metropolitan Toronto.