Carolyn Acker is Founder of Pathways to Education Canada. As Executive Director of the Regent Park Community Health Centre, Ms. Acker developed the Pathways to Education Program, providing at-risk, disadvantaged high school students with the inspiration and ability to graduate. Having lowered the dropout rate in Regent Park from 56 percent to 11 percent, and increased post-secondary attendance from 20 percent to 80 percent, she successfully replicated Pathways in five other communities.

Ms. Acker has also been Director of Nursing Services and Policy and Program Development at St. Elizabeth Health Care, has served on the Board of St. Michael’s Hospital and was named one of the 32 most inspiring Canadian women of Italian heritage.

Elyse Allan has served as President and CEO of GE Canada since October 2004.  Her career at GE began in 1984 and has spanned the U.S., Canada and several global industrial and consumer businesses.  Prior to this, she was President and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade and, before that, a senior executive at Ontario Hydro.

Mrs. Allan is a strong advocate for advancing the country’s science and technology base, competitive fiscal policy, and strong cities.  Aside from her work at GE, she contributes to these goals as a Director of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the C.D. Howe Institute, and the Public Policy Forum.  Mrs. Allan is First Vice-Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.  In 2009, she was appointed to Minister Flaherty’s Federal Finance Advisory Committee, Premier Stelmach’s Council for Economic Strategy and as well,  Premier McGuinty invited her to serve on the Metrolinx Board of Directors.  Her community work includes serving on the Board of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Tuck Business School Board of Overseers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Keith is Director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM), and Adjunct Professor of Finance at The Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

A respected author, researcher, and commentator on pensions and investment topics, Keith recently received the James Vertin Award from the CFA Institute. In 2007 he was honoured with the Outstanding Industry Contribution award by Investments and Pensions Europe Magazine. In 2003, he was named One of the 30 Most Influential People by Pension and Investments Magazine in the USA. His research and writing have also led to several notable awards, including four Graham and Dodd Scrolls and two Roger Murray Awards. Keith writes the monthly The Ambachtsheer Letter, which is subscribed to by a global list of leading pension, investment, consulting and government organizations.

A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, he spent three years in the Canadian Forces. After further graduate studies in economics at the Universities of Western Ontario and McGill, Keith became an investment analyst with Sun Life Assurance Company, advanced as a partner and research director at Canavest House, and became co-founder and partner of Pension Finance Associates. He has operated his own firm, KPA Advisory Services since 1985, and co-founded CEM Benchmarking Inc. in 1991.

Lloyd Axworthy currently serves as the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, working to renew the campus and its downtown community with the view to making post-secondary education more accessible to inner-city, Aboriginal, new immigrant and refugee students.

Dr. Axworthy’s political career spanned 27 years, 21 of which he served in the federal Parliament. He held several Cabinet positions, notably Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the Foreign Affairs portfolio, Dr. Axworthy became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept, in particular, the Ottawa Treaty – a landmark global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. For his leadership on landmines, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. For his efforts in establishing the International Criminal Court and the Protocol on child soldiers, he received the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe.

Dr. Axworthy currently serves as a commissioner on the Aspen Institute’s Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change. He is a board member of the MacArthur Foundation, Human Rights Watch, the Educational Policy Institute, and the University of the Arctic, a 110-member international cooperative network of education and research institutions and indigenous organizations based in circumpolar regions of the world.

Mr. Bazergui obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield as an Athlone Fellow. He then joined École Polytechnique de Montréal and held Faculty positions for over 30 years during which he completed two terms as Director General and CEO (1990-1998). Actively involved in teaching and research, he has published extensively and is the principal author of a textbook on Strength of Materials and two solutions manuals which received an honourable mention at France’s Concours Roberval in 2003.

A well known public figure, he regularly chairs or is a member of strategic Boards and Committees in Quebec and Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and holds several distinctions, including an Honorary Doctorate from Concordia University, the Award of Excellence from the Alumni Association of Polytechnique, and the ADRIQ Institutional Career Prize.

Christiane Bergevin is Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships in the Office of the President of Desjardins Group. She joined the Desjardins Group in August 2009 with a mandate to increase Desjardins’ market share in Canada and abroad. She currently spearheads key strategic partnerships, M&A and other development activities in Canada and abroad in support of the growth of the organization’s major business lines, including insurance, mutual funds, credit and wealth management.

From 1990 to 2009, Ms. Bergevin held various senior management positions, notably in international finance, with the SNC-Lavalin Group where she held the positions of President of SNC-Lavalin Capital as well as Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Corporate Projects of the SNC-Lavalin Group. Previously, she also worked in real estate and international financing with Standard Life and Export Development Canada. She also sat on the Board of Directors of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Business Development Bank of Canada, where she chaired the advisory committee on pensions.

Ms. Bergevin draws on extensive public policy knowledge in numerous sectors and wide-ranging international execution skills and award-winning Canadian deal making.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was Executive Director for International Organizations, then Assistant Deputy Minister in charge of global issues – where she launched a new division to bring together environment, development, human rights, and conflict prevention files.

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World perspective: The Evolving Global Reality

Dr. Alan Bernstein is the inaugural Executive Director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise in New York, an alliance of independent organizations around the world dedicated to accelerating the development of an HIV vaccine. Previously, Dr. Bernstein served as the founding President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research from 2000 to 2007 and Director of Research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute from 1994 to 2000.

Dr. Bernstein has authored over 200 scientific publications in cancer research, blood cell development, stem cells, and science policy. He has received many honours for his contributions to science, including the McLaughlin Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, the Robert L. Noble Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Genetics Society of Canada Award of Excellence, the 2001 Australian Society of Medical Research Medal, honorary degrees from the Universities of British Columbia, Ottawa and Dalhousie, the 2007 Médaille du mérite from the Institut de Recherche Clinique de Montréal, the 2008 Gairdner Wightman Award and the Order of Canada in 2002. Dr. Bernstein received his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, where he is on faculty.

Derek H. Burney (70) is Senior Strategic Advisor to Ogilvy Renault LLP.    He is Chairman of the Board of Canwest Global Communications Corp., Chairman of GardaWorld’s International Advisory Board and a Director of TransCanada Pipelines Limited.  Mr. Burney is a Senior Research Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute and a Visiting Professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow at Carleton University.  He is also the Chair of the Selection Committee for the “Canada Excellence Research Chairs” programme of the Government of Canada.   From October 2007 to February 2008, Mr. Burney served on the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan.

Mr. Burney headed the Transition team for Prime Minister Harper from January to March, 2006.  He was President and Chief Executive Officer of CAE Inc. from October 1999 until August 2004.  Prior to joining CAE, Mr. Burney was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Canada International Inc. (1993-1999).

From 1989-1993, Mr. Burney served as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. This assignment culminated a distinguished thirty-year career in the Canadian Foreign Service, during which he completed a variety of assignments at home and abroad, including a period as a Deputy Minister of External Affairs.

From March 1987 to January 1989, Mr. Burney served as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister. He was directly involved in the negotiation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. He was the Prime Minister’s personal representative (Sherpa) in the preparations for the Houston (1990), London (1991) and Munich (1992) G-7 Economic Summits.
In February 1992, Mr. Burney was awarded the Public Service of Canada’s Outstanding Achievement Award. In July 1993, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Mr. Burney was conferred Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Lakehead University, Queen’s University, Wilfrid Laurier University, Carleton University and University of Windsor.

His memoir of government service – “Getting it Done” – was published by McGill-Queen’s in 2005.

Mr. Burney was born in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, and was educated at Queen’s University, where he received an Honours B.A. and M.A.

Mr. Burney is married to Joan (Peden) and has four sons.

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Canada-U.S. Relations in 2017

Along with many youth volunteers, Yasmine is passionate about the importance of the next generation in international cooperation. Working for youth to have a greater role in the decision-making process of large international cooperation organizations, she sits on the board of directors of Oxfam-Québec and is Chair of the Observatoire jeunesse Oxfam-Québec – a standing committee of the board of directors that aims to contribute strategically to Oxfam-Québec’s decisions, reflections and interventions regarding youth.

As a member of the Forum jeunesse de l’Île de Montréal and a member of the youth consultations group for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Yasmine shares her enthusiasm to understand and take into account the vision of youth in for international cooperation and their concerns in this area.

Yasmine Charara studied international education and educational administration. She is specifically interested in the role of the local community in the educational process. She believes that failing to take the educational concerns of the local population into account can lead to frustration and conflict.