Search for Whistler’s new staff leader begins mid-January

Whistler Chief Administrative Officer Virginia Cullen will be moving on in January to take a position as Vice President of Cities and Communities for McElhanney Ltd., a Canadian engineering and consulting firm.

Cullen joined the Resort Municipality of Whistler in 2020 and stewarded the organization through dual crises: the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cyber-attack in 2021. Beginning her tenure in such an unprecedented period was undeniably challenging, yet she guided the organization with clarity, steadiness, and purpose. 

In a thank you to staff, Cullen noted the real beginnings of her vision as CAO had to wait until 2023, after the urgency of emergencies had passed, and she credited municipal staff’s willingness to experiment and try different approaches for the many successes that followed. 

 “Ginny has led the RMOW with empathy and compassion and has had a powerful impact on how we will work moving forward,” says Mayor Jack Crompton. “She has brought innovation and joy to the work. She has ensured that our municipal operations are integrated and connected across departments. Ginny’s leadership has allowed us to take on some of the tougher challenges of our time—providing homes for workers and turning our minds to tourism that serves and inspires both residents and guests. Our organization is better thanks to her leadership.”  

The Chief Administrative Officer is a position hired and managed by Council. Before coming to the resort, Cullen served as Chief Operating Officer of BGC Engineering, from which she brought problem solving, strategic visioning and risk management to her new role. 

“After five and a half years as CAO, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served Whistler through some challenging and defining moments. I’m proud of all that staff and Council have achieved, and I am thankful for the trust that was placed in me. I hope that my work has set the stage for how we need to work together, collaboratively as an organization and as a community, to face the many changes the future holds,” says Cullen.   

In her term, Cullen’s unique commitment ensured inclusive community engagement was at the core of decision-making, so the town’s voice would guide its route forward. In her tenure, she:  

• Provided oversight and leadership to the planning and financing of six major affordable housing projects in Cheakamus Crossing. Some 400 units of affordable housing have been completed and/or initiated under her tenure; 

• Introduced a longer strategic planning horizon with initiatives like The Whistler Sessions, a scenario planning process that brought representative input to bear on the community’s future and strengthened focus on an adaptive strategy. It also set the stage for the municipality’s long-term housing strategy, the balance model population forecasting tool, and numerous forward-thinking projects to come; 

• Spearheaded Smart Tourism, laying down a vision to help bring alignment within the resort and paint a picture of how Whistler can adapt to climate change and different trends in destination management; 

• Initiated sweeping internal change management to foster a more responsive and agile organization, ready to weather challenges such as affordability, the climate crisis, and rapid technological advancement, and; 

• Worked to encourage internal collaboration across departments, bringing municipal staff together to share project progress, learn from mistakes and connect.  

Cullen will move on from the CAO role on January 14, 2026, at which time the General Manager of Corporate Services and Public Safety, Ted Battiston, will step in as interim CAO. The CAO position will be posted in early January, so Council can begin a process to find the next administrator who will lead the municipality into the 2026 election and the next council term.