Calgary’s search for successor to city manager David Duckworth
Posted Jun 13, 2026 11:29 am.
Who will be Calgary’s next top administrator? The city has officially launched its search for a new chief administrative officer (CAO) ahead of David Duckworth’s departure.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas announced administrative changes in late April, with Duckworth’s last day slated for Dec. 1, 2026. Chief operating officer Stuart Dalgleish, who also announced his retirement on the same day, left his post on Friday.
Before the announcement, there were questions on whether the city manager was ultimately at fault for failures that led to the Bearspaw South Feeder Main debacle.
Meanwhile, Ward 3 councillor Andrew Yule, who chaired the city’s CAO recruitment sub-committee on Friday, says council is currently focused on developing a job profile that reflects what the municipality needs.
“We want to make sure that we’re working with each individual councillor to make sure that we have that job profile correct, and we’re going to be working with the recruiter Boyd & Company, Canada, as they were selected as our recruiter,” he explained.
“So we’re going to have meetings over the next week here with counsellors and the recruiting firm to make sure that job profile is ready to go.”
Yule says Duckworth remaining in the role until December gives council time to conduct what he calls a “thorough and diligent recruitment process.”
While the goal is to have a replacement in place by then, Yule says finding the right candidate remains the top priority.
At this point, the position has not been advertised, and there are no candidates under consideration.
The city hopes to finalize the job profile by early summer so recruitment efforts can begin over the summer months
