Star lawyer Olga Farman is new Port of Quebec boss
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
Once touted by former mayor Régis Labeaume as a worthy potential successor, lawyer Olga Farman now heads another major city institution, the Port of Quebec.
Farman, 46, replaced Mario Girard as CEO of the Port as of Feb. 1. Girard, who has held the position for the past 14 years, has accepted the post of Quebec delegate general in Tokyo.
The Port board announced Farman’s appointment on Jan. 22. Until last fall the managing partner of Norton Rose Fulbright, one of Canada’s largest law firms, Farman is no stranger to Port operations. She has been a member of the Port board since 2020 and chaired the board since June. Farman, who was not yet giving interviews about her new role as of this writing, said in a news release, “My involvement with the Port of Québec’s board of directors has given me a closer look at the fascinating world of Québec as a local and international port city.
“It also allowed me to better understand the unique issues of vital cohabitation among the various stakeholders within the social, economic and community fabric of the greater Quebec City region. I am very grateful for the opportunity to devote myself to it full-time.”
Farman’s decision to accept an administrative position, although an important one, would seem like a detour to those who saw her destined for elected office. She has admitted to having been courted by various political organizations but has so far resisted.
In 2020, Labeaume, then pondering his exit as mayor, had named Farman as having “everything it takes to be mayor of Quebec.”
Her list of corporate and community involvements is staggering, especially for some- one who headed up a sprawling law firm with offices around the world. Beside sitting on the Port board, Farman is at the governance table of the Beneva insurance and finance giant, the Caisse de dépôt et place- ment du Québec, the Musée de la Civilisation, Festival d’été de Québec and Centraide, among many others.
She has received a heap of awards, according to her resumé. She was named Avocate émérite by the Quebec Bar in 2021 and one of Lexpert’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in Canada in 2010. In 2011, she was named one of the 20 Young Women in Power by Canadian Business magazine, and one of the leading US/Canada cross-border corporate lawyers in Canada by Lexpert.
Farman is the daughter of immigrants from Iran who in the 1970s settled in Rivière-du- Loup, where her father taught literature at the local CEGEP. She obtained a law degree and masters of business administration from Université Laval.
In announcing her appointment, François Amyot, chair of the Port’s governance committee, said, “Olga has demonstrated beyond any doubt her ability to mobilize teams, develop talent, manage innovation and implement concrete solutions to ensure the sustainable growth of organizations.”
The Quebec Port Authority, one of seven port bodies in Quebec and 10 elsewhere in Canada, is a non-profit organization operated at arm’s length from the federal government.