McMaster business professor Marvin Ryder will chair a provincial transition board to ensure a smooth transition toward the new City of Hamilton.

Municipal affairs and housing minister Tony Clement officially announced the seven-person board at a late-morning press conference on Jan. 26 at Hamilton's Sheraton Hotel. The group will oversee a number of financial decisions of the existing municipalities, develop business plans, and put in place basic organizational structures for the new municipality, scheduled to be formed on Jan. 1, 2001.

Their tasks will also include hiring key municipal officials and recommending a budget and tax levy for the City's first year of existence.

“This mandate is similar to merging a number of companies into a small corporation,” Ryder says. “You have to find a centralized structure in a cost-efficient manner.”

Ryder is currently assistant vice-president, information services & technology. He has been a lecturer on marketing and business policy in the School of Business since 1984. Ryder has provided business-consulting services to a wide variety of public and private sector clients in the past.

He was first approached about sitting on the board by a local MPP on Jan. 19. By the weekend, the provincial ministry asked him to lead the group.

“This (opportunity) is calling my bluff,” he admits. “I've been an armchair-quarterback, commenting on these situations in the media in the past. Now, I get to be quarterback of the team. I'm very excited.”