Peter Petainen’s professional life has been characterized by responsible leadership and public service performed with a calm, cheerful demeanour.
The Sault native has had a long involvement with the community’s 155 Borden Gray G.C. Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron.
After graduating from the cadet program in his teens, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a reserve officer supporting cadets for 16 years and was the 155 Borden Gray G.C. Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron’s commander from 2004 to 2006.
“I got to work with some absolutely fantastic people in the cadets and the air force that I still count as friends today. It helped me build an operational understanding of things. A lot of it was operational work,” Petainen told SooToday.
He still volunteers with the Air Cadet League.
The discipline he acquired through cadet training and post-cadet experience prepared him for his current role as the International Bridge Administration (IBA) general manager.
A Sault native and White Pines Collegiate graduate, Petainen earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Lake Superior State University.
He worked as the IBA’s chief financial officer for 14 years before becoming IBA general manager in 2016.
Overseeing the operation of the 4.5 km (2.8 mile) International Bridge is certainly not an easy task.
“Everything from Bridge Plaza to Bridge Plaza, excluding customs, is my responsibility,” Petainen said.
“I'm a bridge manager, I'm a facilities manager, I'm an operational manager. My team is responsible for preventative maintenance, capital maintenance, snow plowing, and toll collection. At the end of the day, I try to break the job down into bits and pieces to deal with the issues on hand because there's so much that's involved in what we do.”
As IBA general manager, Petainen works with Canada’s Federal Bridge Corporation and the Michigan Department of Transportation.
That means he manages both Canadian and American employees but Petainen said tensions between Ottawa and Washington over tariffs aren’t affecting the IBA’s spirit of teamwork.
“The topics that we avoid in the office are politics and sports. If we avoid those topics, life is good,” Petainen said with a laugh.
The bridge is efficiently inspected and maintained.
“I was recently on a call with an engineer who was inspecting a similar type of bridge in another community and he said ‘what I'm seeing here with the maintenance and upkeep versus what you guys have in the Sault, yours is a gem by comparison so keep doing what you're doing.’
"So that gave me a sense of validation that everything we're doing, the maintenance team and the operations team, is the right thing for our communities (the Twin Soos),” Petainen said.
“We’ve done our best job if you don't even realize we're there and you can cross the border. That's how I know we've done a good job.”
Petainen said he and his staff are committed to the future of the International Bridge.
“It is the connection between the two communities of Sault Ontario and Sault Michigan. We have families and friends on both sides of the border.”
Petainen said it’s a challenge working with declining revenues drawn from a decreased number of bridge crossings in the post-COVID world.
“We're constantly evaluating, reevaluating, planning and going out and doing the maintenance that the inspections require, but then also looking at what can possibly help extend the life of the bridge so that we're not stalled with a $20 million paint project or a $30 million resurfacing project.
"My goal is to allow customers to go back and forth as seamlessly as possible with the minimum amount of disruption.
“When I retire, as long as I've left the bridge in good shape then we've accomplished what we've set out to do.”
Petainen relaxes by spending time with his family and – drawing on his air cadet background – flying his personal four-seat, single-engine Piper Arrow airplane.
“I’ve loved airplanes since I was a kid. There's a sense of freedom with flying that I've never experienced in anything else that I've done.
"If I need some time to clear my head and just forget about things for a while I go out to the airport, pull out the airplane and go for a flight at 5,000 to 6,000 feet and enjoy the scenery of the country that we live in.”
Reflecting on his life path so far, Petainen said he’s the type to lead in a way that gives back.
“Most of what I’ve done – working at the bridge or working in the military – are civil service public support jobs. And in my mind, I’ve always felt more comfortable in that work environment because I’ve worked with people that I enjoy working with and felt that I was accomplishing something of long-term benefit for the public.”