Derek Burney

Derek Burney is a Senior Strategic Advisor with Norton Rose Fulbright.  He has served in the Canadian foreign service, including seven years in Japan and three years as Ambassador to Korea as well as senior executive positions in the Department of External Affairs.  As Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister (from 1987 to 1989), he was directly involved in the negotiation of the FTA with the United States.  While he was Canada’s Ambassador to the United States (1989 to 1993) he served as the Prime Minister’s personal representative in preparing for the G-7 Summits in 1990, 1991 and 1992.  In 1993, he left the public service to take up an appointment as Chairman and CEO of Bell Canada International.  From 1999 to 2004, he served as President and CEO of CAE Inc.  During those years and since, he also has served as director of several other firms, Chancellor of Lakehead University and a Governor of the Ottawa Hospital.  In early 2006, he headed the Conservative Transition Team and then served in 2007-8 on the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future in Afghanistan.  He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the recipient of several honorary doctorates.  Mr. Burney is the author of a memoir,Getting It Done, which was published in 2005, and the co-author (with Fen Hampson) of Brave New Canada: Meeting the Challenge of a Changing World, which was published last year by McGill-Queen’s University Press.