June 16, 2022 (Waterloo, Canada) — The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) today named Paul Samson as its new president, effective September 6.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’m delighted to appoint Paul Samson as CIGI’s fourth president,” said Jim Balsillie, CIGI’s founder and chair of the Board of Directors. “Paul brings 30 years of global experience and leadership to an impressive range of policy issues, including those presented by the digital transformation of the global economy. His experience will advance CIGI’s influential research, trusted analysis and thought leadership on emerging international issues and further expand the organization’s influence within the global policy community.”
Samson was an executive with the Government of Canada for two decades, holding executive positions with Finance Canada, Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Privy Council Office. He is currently associate deputy minister with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Samson was Canada’s first director to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (2018–2019) and served as the senior representative for Canada in various multilateral negotiations, including with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Monetary Fund and numerous multilateral development banks. He was co-chair of the G20 Framework Working Group on the global economy from 2015 to 2019.
Earlier in his career, he worked at several think tanks and universities in Geneva; Washington, DC; Oslo; and Boston. Samson has a doctorate and an M.A. in international relations from the University of Geneva and a B.A. from the University of British Columbia. He completed post-doctoral studies in global environment assessment at Harvard University.
“I’m honoured to serve as CIGI’s next president and excited to work with the staff, fellows and partners to contribute innovative policy options that make sense of a world transformed by technology,” said Samson.
The Board of Directors conducted the search for a president with executive recruiting company Boyden Canada over the past nine months following the September 2021 announcement that Rohinton P. Medhora was stepping down from the position after 10 years of leadership. Medhora will continue as president until September 2.
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For more information, please contact:
Claire van Nierop, Communications Advisor
[email protected], or +1 416 525 6842
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank committed to innovative policy making at the intersection of technology and international governance. Headquartered in Waterloo, Canada, CIGI has a global network of multidisciplinary researchers and strategic partnerships providing expert research and objective analysis with one goal in mind: to improve people’s lives everywhere.