Nicola Marotz
Last updated on May 9, 2023
"The highlight of my career is genuinely being able to say that I still learn something new every day, whether it's a section of legislation that's new to me, a unique issue a community is seeking our advice on or a colleague's great new way of helping solve a tough problem."
Nicola Marotz received the Legacy Premier’s Award in 2016 and was inducted into the Hall of Excellence the same year. Since joining the public service in 1989, Nicola devoted her career to policy development and delivering on government legislative priorities.
Nicola has made her mark in one of the most complex, dynamic and challenging fields of public policy, local and regional government. She was deeply involved in reforming the legislative foundation for an entire system of government, requiring expertise in a dizzying array of fields, and ‘pushing the envelope’ while balancing competing interests.
An essential feature of B.C.’s local government system is its partner organizations. Nicola has been influential in building partnerships, facilitating collaboration and cultivating long-term relationships among many partners. This includes the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, the Local Government Management Association (LGMA) and the Municipal Law Section of the BC Bar Association. In recognition of her years of local public service excellence to the LGMA, its members and local governments, the LGMA awarded her the Distinguished Partner Award (2013).
Numerous accolades notwithstanding, Nicola has a long-term commitment to the public service. She has served the people of British Columbia, her ministry and her employees for more than 25 years with utmost integrity, a strong moral compass and solid principles. As one ministry employee states, “Many people are capable of achievement in the public service, few do it with the unwavering integrity that is the hallmark of Nicola’s leadership style.”
Always supportive, Nicola is intensely loyal to her colleagues and ministry and is well-respected across the organization and beyond. She is considered the ‘go to’ person by practitioners for advice and interpretation. Her reputation comes not from a single accomplishment, like the Community Charter of 2003, but from simultaneously being a skilled educator, leader and mentor within the ministry and local government realms, while building an unparalleled record of innovative legislative change that has led Canada in local government law reform.
