Board of Governors

Biography

Luis Almagro Lemes was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States on March 18, 2015, with the unanimous support of 33 of 34 member states, and one abstention. Upon taking leadership of the OAS, he announced that one of the central themes of his mandate will be ìmore rights for more people,î and that he would work to bring the Organization closer to the new realities in the Hemisphere and contribute to ensuring more democracy, security and prosperity for all.

A career diplomat, Almagro was Foreign Minister of Uruguay from 2010 to March 1, 2015, and has extensive regional and international experience. In addition, he was elected Senator in the national elections in Uruguay in October 2014.

His time at the head of Uruguayan diplomacy was characterized by activism in defense of human and civil rights at the regional and global level, the insertion of Uruguay into non-traditional markets, the diversification of these markets, and the strengthening of the image of Uruguay as a democratic, fair, tolerant, and diverse society, with ever increasing rights for more Uruguayans.

As Foreign Minister for President JosÈ MujÌca, he defined several emblematic initiatives that put the small South American country on the global map, from receiving former prisoners from Guantanamo, to welcoming dozens of Syrian families who had been victims of the country¥s conflict, to building support in the United Nations so that, beginning in 2016, Uruguay will become part of the Security Council.
Moreover, Uruguay has maintained its presence in Haiti to ensure the continuity of the process of reconstruction in the country following the devastating earthquake of 2010.

Knowledgeable about the new regional alignments, Almagro was an active participant in the consolidation of UNASUR and CELAC and as member of the special UNASUR delegation to Venezuela in 2014 he was recognized as an advocate of dialogue between the government and the opposition to stop the violence at that moment.

As a consensus builder in the region and at the same time a driver of new initiatives, during his term at the head of the country¥s diplomacy, he achieved the long-desired entry of citrus products into the United States, a key market for the sector, while moving forward with bilateral cooperation programs in areas of scientific-technical innovation.

For its part, Uruguay developed specific programs of cooperation for development with Bolivia, Paraguay, and several African nations in the context of the vision of international solidarity that characterized the term of the former Foreign Minister.

The candidate for Secretary General of the OAS was also Ambassador to China for five years, after occupying senior diplomatic posts in the Foreign Ministry of his country, and in the Embassies of Uruguay in Germany and Iran.

In 2014 Foreign Policy magazine named him a Leading Global Thinker, one of ten decision-makers in the region granted this international distinction.

Almagro, a lawyer by profession, is married and has seven children. In addition to Spanish, he speaks English and French.

Biography

Joe Andrew is the Global Chair of Dentons. An accomplished and highly regarded corporate lawyer, Joe may be best known for his role as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the US from 1999-2001. As Global Chair of Dentons, Joe works closely with the Global Chief Executive and the firm's leadership team on Dentons' business strategy. He represents Dentons with clients around the world, key strategic partners, business and government leaders and other external groups. For more than 20 years, Joe has practiced corporate law, focusing on mergers and acquisitions of regulated companies. In addition, because he served as chair of the DNC, Joe is well-suited to his role as an advisor to companies and organizations on the policy issues associated with large-scale transactions. Best known as a negotiator, Joe has led teams that have negotiated major contracts, merged or acquired companies, formed joint ventures and founded new companies. Since joining Dentons in 2004, he has been involved in negotiating deals worth in excess of US$100 billion, including numerous Fortune 500 mergers in the health care and insurance areas.

Biography

A graduate of France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration and of the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques, she holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Lancaster (UK).

Having worked in the sector of culture since the start of her professional career, Audrey Azoulay has notably focused on the funding of French public broadcasting and on the reform and modernization of France’s film support system. She has also served the European Commission providing her expertise on issues concerning culture and communication.

In 2014, as an advisor on culture to the President of the French Republic, she notably initiated the development of a protection plan for heritage in danger, which she was able to implement in 2016 as Minister of Culture and Communication. She has also prioritized improving children’s access to culture with the launch of artistic and cultural education school programmes “Création en cours” and created innovative cultural outreach programmes for people in remote and vulnerable areas “Microfolies”.

With a longstanding commitment in favour of intercultural and intergenerational dialogue to advance education for all and the dissemination of scientific and cultural knowledge, she is determined to maintain this commitment as the head of UNESCO.

She will spare no effort in ensuring that UNESCO fulfils its universal mandate fully in promoting values of humanism and openness and serving as a driving force in the United Nations system. The Organization is to achieve this by serving as an intellectual forum for the world of tomorrow, and as a standard-setter that will help society advance, as well as serving as an expert agency contributing to the dissemination of knowledge to the greatest number of people worldwide.

According to Audrey Azoulay, “none of the major challenges facing the world today can be met by any one country on its own without relying on the fundamental pillars of science, education and culture. Thus, UNESCO can and must fully participate in a world order based on multilateralism and humanist values.”

Biography

The Honourable Perrin Beatty, P.C., O.C., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the 200,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canada’s largest and most representative national business association. Before joining the Canadian Chamber in August 2007, Perrin held the same role at Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME).
A descendant of one of Canada’s most prominent manufacturing families, he grew up in Fergus, Ontario and graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1971.
Perrin was first elected to the House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative in 1972. During his 21 years in Parliament, he served as Minister in seven different portfolios, including Treasury Board, National Revenue, Solicitor General, Defence, National Health and Welfare, Communications and External Affairs.
In 1994, Perrin joined a number of private sector boards and worked as a consultant in communications. In addition, he was an Honorary Visiting Professor in Western University’s Department of Political Science. From 1995 to 1999, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In keeping with his long-standing interest in education, Perrin served as Chancellor of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology from 2008 to 2015. He has received honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws from Western University, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Wilfred Laurier University.
Perrin is currently a member of the board of directors of Mitsui Canada and in 2018, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada “for his lifetime of public service and for his devotion to the development of our nation as a community leader and corporate visionary”.

Biography

Since it was founded in 1996, Ms. Hélène Desmarais has been Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montreal (CEIM), the largest and one of Canada’s most successful technology incubators-accelerators. The CEIM, as an integrate component of the sciences, technology and innovation ecosystem in Canada, has made significant contributions, in the last 20 years, in concert with others to translate innovation into application across key sectors of the Canadian economy to address sector-based challenges and opportunies. The CEIM has catalyzed the development of many thriving Canadian enterprises and also world-class enterprises. She holds directorships in a number of companies and organizations in both the public and private sectors and has led initiatives in the areas of economics, post-secondary education and healthcare.

Ms. Desmarais has been Independent Director of Christian Dior SE since 2012 and President of the company’s Nominating and Compensation Committee since 2015. Christian Dior SE is the world’s largest luxury holding and is the first shareholder of LVMH. Christian Dior SE is listed on Euronext Paris and in the CAC40 Index. Ms. Desmarais is Director of Garda World Security Corporation, since 2006. She is a Member of the Company’s Audit Committee and is also a Member of the Nominating, Compensation and Governance Committee. Garda is a Canadian-based multi-national company ranking among the world’s largest security services providers.

Ms. Desmarais chaired, from its launching in 1990, Gestion Bio-Capital, the first and leading venture capital fund specializing in the start-up and development of biotechnology enterprises. She served on its Audit Committee, its Compensation Committee, its Science Committee and on its Investment Committee until the sale of the Fund, in 2001. Gestion Bio-Capital played a key role in the start-up of twenty biotech companies and the IPOs of ten of them, and today remains one of the most important and effective biotech venture funds ever created in Canada. Ms. Desmarais also sat on the Investment Committee of Hydro-Québec CapiTech – Innovation Fund, one of the leading venture capital funds specializing in the development of new promising energy technologies. Ms. Desmarais serves as Chairwoman Founder of Société de développement économique Ville-Marie (SDEVM), since 1998, which became PME-Mtl centre-ville in 2015, and of the Société d’Investissement Jeunesse (SIJ), a public body which she privatized and has chaired since 1999. Both organizations have micro finance funds that have supported hundreds promising start-ups and entrepreneurs, over the last 18 years.

Ms. Desmarais has also served Canada by participating in the study and formulation of public policy options with the following organizations: the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal as its Chairman and Independent Director, the Canadian think tank C.D. Howe Institute as an Independent Director and Chair of its Quebec Regional Committee and its Canadian regional committees, and, also the Quebec think tank Montreal Economic Institute as its Chair. Since it was founded in 1995, Ms. Desmarais has served the International Economic Forum of the Americas as a Governor and the President of its Steering Committee. This forum has developped into one of the preeminent economic forums in the world with an annual event in Montreal, in Toronto, in Miami and in Paris. Ms. Desmarais is regularly published in a variety of newspapers and journals. Her articles treat the economic challenges facing her society.

Hélène Desmarais has also served Montreal universities particularly HEC Montréal for the last 30 years. As early as in 1988, she is actively involved in enhancing the international visibility of HEC Montréal, and sets out a strategic plan aiming to turn the institution into a major French-speaking business school with a trilingual curriculum. As a result, HEC Montréal becomes the first post-secondary educational institution in North America enabling students to acquire business management training in three languages. She also sets up, in 1990, an International Advisory Board for the school, on which she has served for 26 years as Deputy Chair. In 2003, Hélène Desmarais is the first woman in the 97-year history of HEC Montréal to be elected Chair of the Board of Administration.

Ms. Desmarais holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from HEC Montreal, a Doctor of Laws honoris causa from St. Francis Xavier University in 2009, a Doctor honoris causa from Université de Lyon in France in 2009, the Order of Merit of the Université de Montréal in 2007 and the Medal of Honour of the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal in 2009. She was named Grande Montréalaise (economic sector), Académie des grands montréalais and la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain in 2010 and received the Prix entrepreneurship of Conseil du Patronat du Québec in 2010. She was recipient of the Order of Canada, Chancellery of Honours, in 2009, and the Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medals in 2002 and in 2012. She became Officer of the National Order of Québec in 2013.

Biography

Jacques Delors was president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. Among the landmark developments of his presidency were the successful 1992 Single Market program and the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty of European Union, furthering political, economic and monetary integration.

In 1996, Delors founded the research institute Notre Europe. In May 2000, he was appointed president of the CERC (Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale) until July 2009.

Delors started his career at the Banque de France in 1945, where he worked until 1962 and was a member of the Economic and Social Council. He became head of the social affairs department of the General Planning Committee until 1969 before being appointed General Secretary for Permanent Training and Social Promotion (1969-1973).

He was a member of Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas's cabinet (1969-1972), then associate professor at the University of Paris-Dauphine (1974-1979) and director of the research centre 'Work and Society'. He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 1979 and chaired the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee until May 1981. He served as France's Minister of Economics and Finance (1981-1984); Mayor of Clichy (1983-1984); and as chairman of UNESCO's International Commission on Education for the 21st century (1992-1996).

He has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions : Prix Jean Monnet (1988), Prix Louis Weiss (1989), Prix Prince des Asturies (1989), Prix Charlemagne (1992), Prix Carlos V (1995), Prix Erasme(1997), Prix de l'économie mondiale (2006). He received the Nijmegen Medal of Peace in the Netherlands in March 2010.

Biography

Mr. Desmarais is Chairman of Power Corporation and Executive Co-Chairman of Power Financial. He joined Power in 1981 and assumed the position of Vice-President the following year. In 1984, he led the creation of Power Financial to consolidate Power’s major financial holdings, as well as Pargesa Holding SA, under a single corporate entity. Mr. Desmarais served as Vice-President of Power Financial from 1984 to 1986, as President and Chief Operating Officer from 1986 to 1989, as Executive Vice-Chairman from 1989 to 1990, as Executive Chairman from 1990 to 2005, as Chairman of the Executive Committee from 2006 to 2008 and as Executive Co-Chairman from 2008 until today. He also served as Vice-Chairman of Power Corporation from 1991 to 1996. He was named Chairman and Co-CEO of Power Corporation in 1996.

After Power Financial and the Frère Group of Belgium took control of Pargesa in 1990, Mr. Desmarais moved to Europe from 1991 to 1994, to develop the partnership with the Frère Group and to restructure the Pargesa group. From 1982 to 1990, he was a member of the Management Committee of Pargesa, in 1991, Executive Vice-Chairman and then Executive Chairman of the Committee; in 2003, he was appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer and in 2013 named Chairman of the Board. He has been a Director of Pargesa since 1992.

He is a director of many Power group companies in North America, including Power Financial, Great-West Lifeco, Great-West Life, Great-West Life & Annuity, London Life, Canada Life Financial, Canada Life, Putnam Investments, IGM Financial, Investors Group and Mackenzie. In Europe, he is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, and a director of Total, Lafarge and SGS.

Mr. Desmarais is Chairman of the Board of Governors of The International Economic Forum of the Americas (Canada), a Trustee of The Brookings Institution, a Co-Chair of the Brookings International Advisory Council and a member of the Brookings Executive Committee (Washington), a member of The Business Council (United States) and Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He is also active on a number of philanthropic advisory councils.

In 1994, he received the Insigne d’Officier de l’Ordre de la Couronne of Belgium. In 2005, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada and he received the Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of International Business. In 2009, he was named an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec and in 2012, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in France. He holds a number of honorary doctorates.

He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University and a MBA from the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), France.

Biography

Suzanne Fortier has served as Principal and Vice-chancellor of McGill University since September 2013. Prior to her appointment as Principal, Professor Fortier was President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) from 2006 to 2013, and held the position of Vice-Principal (Academic) from 2000 to 2005 and Vice-Principal (Research) from 1995 to 2000 at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she was a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and in the School of Computing.

A native of St-Timothée, Québec, Professor Fortier graduated from McGill with a BSc (1972) and a PhD in Crystallography (1976). Her research work has focused in the development of mathematical and artificial intelligence methodologies for protein structure determination. She has also made contributions to the development of novel techniques in crystallographic data mining to gain new insights from the large structural databases.

She has received the Clara Benson Award for distinguished contributions to chemistry by a woman (1997), the Entrepreneurship Award from Communications and Information Technology Ontario (1997), the Queen's University Distinguished Service Award (2005), honorary doctorates from Thompson Rivers and Carleton Universities, as well as the University of Glasgow (2006, 2014, and 2015 respectively) and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). She is an officer of France’s National Order of Merit, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was named a Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2015).

Professor Fortier is currently a member and Vice-Chair of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC), and is a member of the International Jury of France’s Investissements d’Avenir IDEX/I-SITE 2014; the Canadian Business-Higher Education Roundtable. In 2016 she was appointed to the Canadian Federal Minister of Finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth as well as the World Economic Forum’s Global University Leaders Forum (GULF).  She also serves on the Board of Directors of Montreal International; the Conference Board of Canada, Universities Canada and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.  She has served as a member of several boards and councils, including the federal government's Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA), the Board of Directors of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Steering Committee of the Networks of Centres of Excellence, the Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress, and the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

Biography

Ms. Orit Gadiesh has been the Chairman of the Board of Bain & Company, Inc., since 1993. She is a world-renowned expert on management and corporate strategy. She has advised a multiplicity of Chief Executive Officers and Senior Executives of major international companies on strategy development and the implementation of change. She has counseled top level management on structuring and managing portfolios, developing and implementing global strategy, executing turnarounds, improving organizational effectiveness, and designing both cost reduction and growth programs.

She is on the Board of Trustees and on the International Business Council (IBC) of the World Economic Forum. She is an Advisory  Board Member at Harvard Kennedy School, a member of HEC Int'l Advisory Board, and Governor of the Tel Aviv University. She is a member for life, former vice chairman and former chairman of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council to the Mayor of Shanghai (IBLAC). She is a Member of the Council of Foreign Relations and sits on the International Advisory Board, Atlantic Council of US.  Since 2014, Ms. Gadiesh is also a Member of Supervisory Board at Koninklijke Philips N.V. She serves as a Board Member of Renova Management AG, and served as a Non-Executive Director of WPP plc from 2004 to 2014.

She volunteers her experience as a Pragmatic Strategist to academic, business and civic communities. She is a regular contributor to business publications and a sought-after public speaker, at events such as the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Her achievements and outstanding leadership have been publicly recognized, in the USA and beyond. Recipient of awards: named one of Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Business”, and Forbes Magazine’s “The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World”. She has received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award for outstanding achievement, the Distinguished Leadership Award from IDC University, the Leadership Award from Ben Gurion University, the International Institute of Boston’s 25th Annual Golden Door Award for outstanding contribution to the community, and Le Trophée de l’INSEAD by the French Minister of Finance, Economy and Industry.

Ms. Gadiesh holds an MBA (Hons) from Harvard Business School and was a Baker Scholar; she also holds a BA (Hons) in Psychology from Hebrew University.

Biography

On December 7, 2018, the Prime Minister appointed John F.G. Hannaford as Deputy Minister of International Trade at Global Affairs Canada, effective January 7, 2019. From January 2015 to January 2019, Mr. Hannaford was the foreign and defence policy adviser to the Prime Minister and Deputy Minister in the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada. Until December 2014, Mr. Hannaford was the assistant secretary to the Cabinet for foreign and defence policy in the Privy Council Office. Prior to December 2011, Mr. Hannaford was Canada’s ambassador to Norway. Before that, for two years, Mr. Hannaford was director general of the Legal Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. As a member of Canada’s foreign service, he had numerous assignments in Ottawa and at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C., during the early years of his career. Mr. Hannaford graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class) in history. After earning a Master of Science in international relations at the London School of Economics, he completed a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Toronto and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1995.
In addition to his work as a public servant, Mr. Hannaford has been an adjunct professor in both the Faculty of Law and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Biography

Glenn Hutchins is Chairman of North Island and North Island Ventures and a co-founder of Silver Lake. He is a director of AT&T, Virtu Financial and Digital Currency Group; Co-Chair of the Brookings Institution and CARE; Vice Chair of  the Obama Foundation; on the Executive Committee of the Boston Celtics Basketball Team; and a board member of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of GIC Private Limited, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.

He was a Director and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2011- 2020.  Mr. Hutchins also served President Clinton in both the transition and the White House as a special advisor on economic and health-care policy.

He was previously chairman of the board of SunGard Data Systems, Inc. and Instinet, Inc. and a long-time director of Nasdaq, Inc.  He was also a director of the Harvard Management Company for a decade and co-chairman of Harvard University’s capital campaign.

Mr. Hutchins and his wife, Debbie, founded the Hutchins Family Foundation which, among other projects, is supporting the construction of the Obama Presidential Center and has created the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University; the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at The Brookings Institution; and the Chronic Fatigue Initiative, which conducted basic research into the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Mr. Hutchins has published essays on economic and public policy in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Fortune and Foreign Affairs. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Mr. Hutchins holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Biography

Gérard Mestrallet is a graduate of the French engineering school, École Polytechnique, and of École Nationale d’Administration. Having held various positions at the Treasury Department and on the staff of the Minister of Economy and Finance (Jacques Delors), Gérard Mestrallet joined Compagnie Financière de SUEZ in 1984. In 1986 he was appointed Senior Executive Vice-President in charge of industrial affairs. In 1991 he was named Chairman of the Management Committee of Société Générale de Belgique. In 1995, he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie de SUEZ. Gérard Mestrallet was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GDF SUEZ (now ENGIE) when SUEZ merged with Gaz de France on July 2008. Since May 3 2016, he is Chairman of the Board of ENGIE and Chairman of the Board of SUEZ.

Biography

Duarte Miranda retired from RBC Financial Group where, as Vice-President, Global Trade Finance, he had global responsibility for RBC Global Services’ international trade finance activities. A career banker, he spent close to 35 years within RBC Financial Group where he held various executive and senior management positions, both in Canada and abroad. He has also been involved with and contributed to a number of Business and Trade associations engaged in the support and development of businesses, always in a spirit of sharing his knowledge and expertise. He has sat on the board of directors of several of them. He has also supported and cooperated with different humanitarian and cultural non-profit organizations.

Biography

Gil Rémillard holds degrees in Philosophy (1965), Politics and Economics (1968) and has a doctoral degree in Law (1972). He has worked in the fields of teaching, private law and politics.

Career

Upon returning from Europe in 1973, where he completed his Ph.D., Mr. Rémillard began teaching constitutional and administrative law at Laval University’s Faculty of Law and practiced law at the Chouinard, Rémillard, Bussière & Robinson law firm. During this time, he also acted as advisor to the Québec and Ottawa governments on reforming administrative bodies. In 1983, he became a special constitutional advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada and an advisor to the United Nations Canadian delegation in New York. He has appeared before all levels of the Canadian court system, including the Supreme Court of Canada. From 1981 to 1985, he chaired the Québec Constitutional Conferences, which numbered Prime Ministers Trudeau and Mulroney, as well as Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (former Secretary-General of the United Nations).

On December 2, 1985, Mr. Rémillard was elected as the member for the Québec City riding of Jean-Talon; 10 days later, he was sworn in as a Member of Premier Robert Bourassa’s Liberal government. Within that government, he held several positions, being successively Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of International Relations, Minister of Public Security, and Minister of Justice. As Québec’s Minister of Justice for nearly six years, Mr. Rémillard was responsible for the implementation of the new Civil Code of Québec, which came into effect January 1, 1994. In 1990, he presided over the creation of the Human Rights Tribunal of Québec and, in 1992, convened a major Justice Summit, which resulted in the creation of the Prix de la justice Award that, each year, recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals who have worked to ensure and promote the quality, universality and accessibility of justice.

As Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Rémillard headed the negotiations which led to the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, in 1987 and 1992 respectively. While not officially part of the Canadian Constitution, these two agreements had a considerable impact on Canadian federalism, primarily because the Parliament of Canada recognized the “Quebec nation” and the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged the principles of cooperative federalism.

In January 1994, Mr. Rémillard left the political arena. Starting on February 1, 1994 and for the next 22 years, he taught at the École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ÉNAP), where he lectured on administrative and international law and gave a course on the principles and issues involved in public administration (February 1994 – April 2016). He also served as counsel to the law firm Dentons Canada LLP. In 1995, along with his wife Marie DuPont and his son Nicholas Rémillard, he founded the International Economic Forum of the Americas which annually presents the Conference of Montreal in June, the Toronto Global Forum in September and the World Strategic Forum in April in Miami. These forums are intended to promote understanding of the major issues involved in economic globalization.

From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Rémillard was an advisor to the governments of the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria concerning the reform of their Civil Codes, as part of the preparation for their entry into the European Union.

From 2008 to 2012, he acted as a negotiator for the Québec Government and Secretary General of the Québec-France Mutual Recognition Agreement that establishes equivalency of professional qualifications for many trades and professions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Publications

Mr. Rémillard is the President and publisher of the economic magazine FORCES. He is also the author of several books and articles, among them Le fédéralisme canadien, Volumes I and II, and has edited a number of collections, including Global Economy: The Foundation for the Next Era of Growth, published in 2014.

Honours

In 1992, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa by the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Aix-Marseille University, France. In 1994, he was awarded the Mérite du Barreau by the Québec Bar for his assistance in creating the new Civil Code of Québec. In 2001, he was appointed to the Order of Canada and, in 2002, was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2004, he received the Ordre national du Québec and, that same year, was made a Knight of France’s Légion d’honneur by French President Jacques Chirac. In May 2007, he was granted the honorary title of Advocatus Emeritus by the Québec Bar. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the France-Canada Institute’s Samuel de Champlain prize. That same year, Ottawa’s Saint Paul University named him Alumnus of the Year and established a fund in his name, and that of his wife, Marie DuPont, to help children with learning disabilities. In January 2014, Mr. Rémillard was elected President of the Légion d’honneur Members’ Association, Montréal chapter. In October 2016, he was made an Officer of France's Légion d'honneur by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Social Involvement

A dyslexic himself, Mr. Rémillard devotes his philanthropic efforts to a variety of organizations that help children with learning disabilities. He serves on a number of Boards of Directors, among them that of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, co-chaired by Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada, and John Ralston Saul, that helps welcome new citizens and integrate them into Canadian life.

Biography

Odile Renaud-Basso is the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD’s Board of Governors elected Ms Renaud-Basso as the Bank’s seventh President in October 2020 during its 29th Annual Meeting.

She took up the role in November 2020, replacing Sir Suma Chakrabarti, who had stepped down in July 2020 after serving two full four-year terms. She is the first ever woman head of a multilateral development bank.

As Director General at the French Treasury, Ms Renaud-Basso oversaw the development of France’s economic policies, leading on European and international financial affairs, trade policies, financial regulation and debt management.

In this position, she also served as Vice-President of the European Economic and Financial Committee, deputy to the G7 and G20 groups and French Governor or Alternate Governor of the World Bank, EBRD and African Development Bank. She is also Chair of the Paris Club.

Prior to her current role, she was Deputy Director-General of the Caisse des Dépôts, a large French public financial institution.

Ms Renaud-Basso is a graduate of the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po), and an Ecole Nationale d’Administration alumnus. She also attended Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Biography

Jean-Claude Trichet is presently president of SOGEPA (Paris) (2012), chairman of the Group of Thirty (Washington) (2011) and chairman of the board of Directors of the Bruegel Institute (Bruxelles) (2012). He is a member of the “Institut de France” (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques).

Born in Lyon in 1942, , Jean-Claude Trichet is an honorary Inspecteur général des Finances and Ingénieur civil des Mines. He is a graduate of the Ecole nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy, of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, of the Université de Paris (in economics) and of the Ecole nationale d’administration.

Jean-Claude Trichet was President of the European Central Bank (2003-2011). He was Governor of Banque de France (1993-2003) and under secretary of the French Treasury -1987-1993). He was President of the Paris Club (debt rescheduling) (1985-1993), President of the European Monetary Committee (1992-1993), President of the Group of 10 Central Banks Governors and President of the Global economy meeting in Basel (2002-2011). He was also the first President of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) (2010).