Steven Hobbs

For Steven Hobbs, the road from local poli-sci major to Chief of Staff to the CEO, overseeing the planning of the biggest transit expansion project in North America runs straight through Lakehead University.

As a Thunder Bay native, attending Lakehead was an easy choice. Hobbs earned his undergraduate degree in 2006 in Political Science and Economics. After completing his Master's in Political Science with a specialty in Canadian Politics at the University of Calgary, he got a job placement in Ottawa. For the next six and a half years he worked in three different ministries, including a brief stint with the Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Communities.

That experience in transportation infrastructure landed him a job in Toronto dealing with public infrastructure projects. He collaborated with governments and the private sector to find more innovative ways to build capital projects, like transit, hospitals, court houses, power generation and schools, on-time and on-budget.

In July 2019, Hobbs joined Metrolinx, an agency of the government of Ontario under the Ministry of Transportation, which plans, builds, and operates public transportation in southern Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe. Earlier that spring, the Ontario provincial government had announced a new thirty-billion- dollar subway program for Toronto and York Region. Hobbs was a perfect fit to help Metrolinx take on its expanded mandate.

Hobbs now works as one of two Chiefs of Staff in the CEO’s office managing the capital portfolio. It’s a challenging job that incorporates all his skillsets. He especially loves the position’s problem-solving aspect.

“I like having to critically think about all parts of a project. What are the community impacts? Who's going like this project? Who's not? How do we mitigate? How do we input what people want? And then you have to navigate government. It's always a good challenge to get these projects built as quickly as possible but you need to ensure all partners are also along for the build. I just love being part of a team solving big problems with the intent to get things done and get them done right.”

He credits his Lakehead experience with helping him develop his ability to see all sides and form consensus. 

“Lakehead has a pretty intimate campus,” said Hobbs. “You're literally running into the same people all that time. That’s especially true in a program like political science where you've got people all over the political spectrum but, because it’s a small group, you're forced to be friends – in a good way -- with everybody. That environment encouraged my ability to think critically and strategically. You have to think about how you build collaboration when you are building bigger things. Lakehead was just this open space where you learn to debate and be challenged.”

Over the next 10 years Metrolinx and its partners will be planning and building roughly seventy-billion dollars’ worth of transportation infrastructure, linking communities from Barrie to Niagara Falls and from Kitchener to Bowmanville. Hobbs is thrilled to be a part of such an enormous project and more than prepared to solve any problems in his path.