A long-serving steward of British Columbia's public auto insurer is moving to the helm of the province's ferry system, carrying with him the lessons of a nearly two-decade tenure in which a troubled institution was rebuilt. The change, announced from Victoria on January 17, 2023, reflects a familiar public-sector truth: the people who learn how to repair one Crown corporation are often asked to steady another. What he brings is a faith that structural reform and attention to cost can restore trust, but the ferry service now faces a harder test, one where the problem is not a ledger but the sim
ICBC President Nicolas Jimenez Departs to Lead BC Ferries After Nearly Two Decades at the Insurer
A turnaround at an insurer, now a staffing crisis at sea
Mark
So the CEO of ICBC is going to BC Ferries. Why does that matter beyond a résumé line?
Mimi
Because of who he is replacing himself with, in a sense. He's credited with turning ICBC around, and now he's headed to an organization with a very visible operational problem: staffing shortages causing cancellations and delays.
Mark
And he isn't the first to make that jump.
Mimi
No. Joy MacPhail was ICBC's board chair and moved to chair the BC Ferries board in June of last year. Now the CEO follows her.
Luke
Worth being careful here. The credit for the turnaround comes from ICBC's own news release and its board chair, Catherine Holt, and from MacPhail, who worked with him. Those are friendly voices.
Mark
What can we say for certain, then?
Luke
That rates are frozen until March 2025, and that the insurer moved to a no-fault model. How much of that is down to Jimenez personally, versus government policy, the report doesn't separate out.
Mimi
Fair. The "dumpster fire" line came from David Eby, then attorney general, so the starting point was a political judgment too.
Mark
Does his insurance record tell us how he'll handle ferries?
Luke
Not really. The piece offers no evidence either way. It also doesn't say when he starts or who replaces him at ICBC. Those are open questions.
Mimi
What we do know is the problem he inherits: persistent staffing shortages. That's where he'll be judged.
Le Pouls
- Nicolas Jimenez is leaving ICBC after almost twenty years to take the top job at BC Ferries, a move that shifts leadership across two linked public institutions.
- BC Ferries is wrestling with persistent staffing shortages that keep forcing cancellations and delays on routes that islanders depend on daily.
- ICBC credits Jimenez with a no-fault insurance overhaul and financial recovery that made rate freezes possible until March 2025.
- The central question is whether his cost-conscious, customer-focused reform playbook can keep vessels crewed and sailings on time.
- The timing of his start and his successor at ICBC remain unannounced, leaving both organizations in a period of open questions.
A long-serving steward of British Columbia's public auto insurer is moving to the helm of the province's ferry system, carrying with him the lessons of a nearly two-decade tenure in which a troubled institution was rebuilt. The change, announced from Victoria on January 17, 2023, reflects a familiar public-sector truth: the people who learn how to repair one Crown corporation are often asked to steady another. What he brings is a faith that structural reform and attention to cost can restore trust, but the ferry service now faces a harder test, one where the problem is not a ledger but the simple promise of a boat that sails when it is scheduled to.
The head of British Columbia's public auto insurer is changing jobs, and he is not going far in the provincial family of institutions. Nicolas Jimenez, president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of B.C., is leaving to run BC Ferries, taking the same title at another Crown-linked organization. The announcement came from ICBC in Victoria on January 17, 2023.
Jimenez spent almost twenty years at ICBC, long enough to live through the years when the insurer's finances became a political problem and then through the work of repairing them. Board chair Catherine Holt praised what she called a remarkable transformation at the public insurer. The scale of that change is easier to measure against where things started, when then-attorney general David Eby called the situation a dumpster fire.
The reforms included a shift to a no-fault insurance model, which ICBC says has allowed rates to be frozen until March 2025. The move follows a familiar path: Joy MacPhail left ICBC, where she was board chair, to lead the BC Ferries board last June. MacPhail called Jimenez a change leader with a proven record, customer focused and committed to financial accountability and affordability.
His new challenge is a different kind of problem. BC Ferries has struggled with staffing shortages that force cancellations and delays. The job is less about balancing accounts and more about keeping vessels crewed and sailings on schedule. The question to watch is whether the approach that steadied ICBC can work for a service whose most visible failure is unreliability. The release does not give a start date or name a successor at ICBC.
The head of British Columbia's public auto insurer is changing jobs, and he is not going far in the provincial hierarchy. Nicolas Jimenez, president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of B.C., is leaving to run BC Ferries, taking the same title at a different Crown-linked institution. The news came in a release from ICBC on January 17, 2023, out of Victoria.
According to the insurer, Jimenez has been with the organization for almost 20 years. That is a long run at any employer, and it means he was there through the stretch when ICBC's finances became a political problem and through the effort to fix them.
Board chair Catherine Holt credited him with many contributions during his tenure, singling out what she called the "remarkable transformation" of the public auto insurer. The scale of that change is easier to see against where things began. When the NDP took office, then-attorney general David Eby described the insurer's financial situation as a "dumpster fire."
The reforms that followed included a move to a no-fault insurance model. According to the report, those changes have allowed ICBC to freeze rates until March 2025.
The move also has a pattern to it. Jimenez will follow Joy MacPhail, who left ICBC, where she was board chair, to take over the board at BC Ferries in June of the previous year. In her own news release, MacPhail described Jimenez as a "change leader" with a proven track record of success. She said he is "customer focused with a deep commitment to financial accountability and rate affordability." She added that he led structural reforms that returned the insurer to financial health and allowed it to deliver more affordable insurance to customers.
What he is walking into is a different kind of problem. Staffing shortages at BC Ferries have persisted, forcing cancellations and delays. The task there is less about repairing a balance sheet than about keeping vessels fully crewed and sailings on schedule.
The thing to watch is whether the approach credited with turning around ICBC, structural reform with an eye on cost and customers, translates to a service whose most visible difficulty is reliability. The report does not say when Jimenez starts, and it offers no details on who will succeed him at ICBC.
Citations marquantes
He is customer focused with a deep commitment to financial accountability and rate affordability.— Joy MacPhail, BC Ferries board chair
Jimenez made many contributions, including the 'remarkable transformation' of the public auto insurer.— Catherine Holt, ICBC board chair (paraphrased)
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur Vancouver Is Awesome ↗
Politics & Governance