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Project Management Guru

Rupert McNay, CGA, has demonstrated an impressive range of skills in fulfilling a key role on one of Canada's largest-ever infrastructure projects.

FROM: MAY-JUN 2004 ISSUE | BY BEV CLINE

Rupert McNay, CGA, is a focused, calm, and composed guy. And he's prone to taking on challenges that are not for the faint of heart. These are all important qualities given McNay's current role. In an office just east of Toronto's Pearson International Airport, McNay spends his days as General Manager, Scheduling & Cost Control for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority's (GTAA) $4.4 billion reconstruction project.

Mere weeks prior to the much-anticipated new Terminal 1 opening on April 6, McNay took a well-earned vacation and headed off to India for three weeks. The timing was auspicious, but obviously the project was well in hand.

With Phase One of the multi-billion dollar airport redevelopment project complete, there is a brief lull until the frost comes out of the ground and the next phase can begin. In totality, the airport reconstruction is a 12-year project, slated for completion in 2010.

One of the largest capital projects in Canada's history

McNay was kind enough not to ask me to traverse the clogged highways out to the airport, so we set our meeting for a coffee shop in Toronto's Danforth Greektown. He arrived on schedule and equipped with a lot of material: a resume, a chart that shows where his job fits in the scheme of things, and brochures that beautifully detail the potential of the massive redevelopment project.

In his position as General Manager, Scheduling & Cost Control, which he's held since joining the GTAA in 1998, McNay plans and manages the infrastructure supporting the financial administration of what is said to be one of the top five largest capital projects in the history of this country.

He reports to the vice-president, planning and development and then upward to the Board of Directors. Five or six times a year he appears before the Board's Planning and Development subcommittee to present program updates and address individual member's questions. His is a large-scale position on a large-scale project, which encompasses four major areas of responsibility including: budgeting and forecasting; program reporting and administration; operational reviews and audits; and electronic document management functions.

Under McNay's guidance, the GTAA Finance group ensures that each month in excess of $57 million is paid to trades and contractors. (That works out to a whopping $700 million yearly.) "We've developed a clearly defined payment policy so that everyone gets paid on the same day each month," he says.

Slow and steady

It turns out it was one of those serendipitous moments that led him to choose a career which requires the skills developed through the CGA program. McNay grew up in east end Toronto. Armed with a degree in geography from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, he was embarking on an accounting job on a construction site when his Dad brought a brochure home for him.

"My Dad worked for Canada Customs and one day he attended a trade show and came home with the CGA brochure. Dad grew up in the Depression and went to Danforth Technical School until he was forced to leave school to get a job. He was determined that if I was to be in accounting, I should get an education in accounting. I read the brochure and thought: he's right — it seems like there's a lot I can learn from this program. So I enrolled immediately."

He pauses: "I know you are going to ask me about the relevance of the CGA designation today and if it has helped me in my career. So here's my answer to anyone who is considering the accounting field. If you want to be an accountant, you want to be a designated accountant — pure and simple."

McNay points out that his path to becoming a CGA was slow and steady. What really appealed to him was the flexibility that the CGA course structure afforded him. As with many professionals, he earned his designation over a number of years, while working full time and raising two daughters, Jenny and Anna, with his wife Susan, who is a teacher. Both daughters are now in their twenties and attending university.

During McNay's years of CGA study, which culminated in his earning the designation in 1986, he kept an affiliation with the Toronto chapter, but also worked in several provinces as he took on positions with more depth and responsibility. In the early years, he worked for Aecon construction as a project accountant; the British Columbia Buildings Corporation as a senior financial analyst; then as Manager, Planning and Control for the Real Estate Group of Canada Post; and Client Manager for Minicom Data Corporation, an organization with a portfolio of 60 real estate companies.

He then moved on to more complex challenges at Marathon Realty Company as Manager, Ontario Operations; and later Director, Administration, Buildings Group (a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Limited with total assets of $2.5 billion). Here he concluded his tenure as a member of the management team responsible for the $1 billion sale of the company.

Prior to joining the GTAA, he spent two years as Director, Special Projects at Marathon Development Inc., the management company for Canadian Pacific Properties with a $1 billion portfolio.

Through the changes in his life, McNay retained his commitment to earning the CGA designation. After tucking his kids into bed at night, he sat down to study. "I remember studying on the Monday night of the Victoria Day weekend one year," he recalls with irony. "Wow…that was a challenge."

There were other and perhaps, shorter, roads he could have taken to enhance his professional credibility, he says. "But the CGA reputation is so strong; it's so well-respected," he states emphatically. "I never looked at anything else."

Multi-faceted job

From his office in the old Wardair building where he has worked since 1998, McNay has watched the apron control tower rise atop the new building, eagerly anticipating the April opening of the new Terminal 1.

It's been quite a task, constructing a new airport while an estimated 25 million people use the existing structures. "The challenge is to keep the airport running smoothly while construction's underway," he says. "You don't want to cause a traffic tie-up from the airport to the Queen Elizabeth Way because you're moving a piece of steel on site for the new construction."

His job is truly multi-faceted. Due to the sheer size of the project, " I could be talking with one person about the new parking garage one moment, while my phone is ringing with someone who needs to discuss runways and aprons and there's a third person waiting to talk about the terminal project," he says.

"In reality this isn't one project, but many projects. And each project itself has its own complexities: scheduling, contracts, cost control," McNay explains. Daily, he manages the processes, while the engineers and technical people provide expertise to build the airport. In essence, he builds the processes that make the operation run smoothly.

"What's most exciting is that I really don't know what I'll be doing minute to minute, day to day, since the overall project is so large and so complex," he continues. "I thrive in a dynamic business environment."

McNay is a busy person outside of work, too. Over the years he's kept up his commitment to extending his knowledge. He's earned the U.S.-based Certified Fraud Examiner designation and taken courses through the Niagara Institute and York University.

He volunteers in many spheres: he's a former member of CGA-Ontario's Information Technology committee and stays involved with the Association, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Children's Breakfast Club, and has worked with the Rookie League for youth affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

Yet he makes time to relax, collecting antique outboard motors (specializing in the 1950s era) and rebuilding them for use during his cottage stays in the Bala part of the Muskoka region north of Toronto.

"Maybe I'm an engineer at heart," he muses. "Perhaps that's why I enjoy my role at the GTAA so much. Accounting and engineering are a really good match for me."

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Bev Cline is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto.