PEO is pleased to present the 2016 President’s Award to recently retired Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), Carol Layton.

Ms. Layton worked with the Ontario government in a wide range of diverse positions for almost 36 years, including as a Deputy Minister for 13 years. Most recently, she oversaw the largest number of professional engineers in the Ontario government as Deputy Minister of Transportation.

In her five-years with MTO, she advocated for shaping transportation policy through four key pillars: sustainability, innovation, safety and partnerships — elements that are favoured and supported by professional engineers. As part of this process, Ms. Layton supported the broader application of the ministry’s value engineering program from a focus on policies and standards, to incorporating value engineering studies on all projects, processes and products. This led to over $1 billion in avoided costs with a direct bottom line benefit to the government and, most importantly, to the taxpayer.

Considered by many as a role model for women in the public service, she oversaw the appointment of the first female Chief Engineer in the Ontario Public Service, Suzanne Beale. Ms. Layton was also a key supporter of the Ontario Public Service’s Women in Engineering Mentoring Initiative, which provides guidance to engineering students in their final year of study through a volunteer-driven, virtual mentoring network and provides opportunities for women to transition into the profession.