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Featuring
Premier Philippe Couillard, 31st and Current Premier of Québec
Governor John W. Hickenlooper, 42nd and Current Governor of Colorado
Governor Francisco Domínguez Servién, 27th and Current Governor of Querétaro
Premier Kathleen Wynne, 25th and Current Premier of Ontario
Premier Phillippe Couillard was born on June 26, 1957 in Montreal, Philippe Couillard earned his doctorate in medicine in 1979 and neurosurgery degree in 1985 from Université de Montréal, a specialist certificate from Collège des médecins du Québec and a specialist certificate from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1985. Mr. Couillard served as Chief Surgeon in the Department of Neurosurgery at Hôpital Saint-Luc from 1989 to 1992 and co-founded the Dhahran Department of Neurosurgery in Saudi Arabia, working there from 1992 to 1996. Subsequently, he was a Faculty of Medicine professor at Université de Sherbrooke from 1996 to 2003 and Chief Surgeon and Director in Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke’s Department of Surgery from 2000 to 2003. From 1999 to 2003, he served as the Canadian representative on the Board of Directors of the Société de Neurochirurgie de Langue Française. He sat on Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Board and Committee of Public Affairs and Policy Research from 2000 to 2003. Philippe Couillard has also been a member of the James IV Association of Surgery since 2002, a partner of PCP (Persistence Capital Partners) Investment Fund, a member of the International Advisory Board established by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health, a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), a member of the Amorfix Life Sciences and Thallion Pharmaceuticals Boards and the Chairman of the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and Québec Network for Personalized Healthcare. In addition, he was a Strategic Advisor in Healthcare and Life Sciences at Secor in February 2011 and a consultant in a private capacity. Elected Liberal MNA for Mount Royal in 2003, Philippe Couillard was re-elected in Jean-Talon in 2007, serving as the Minister of Health and Social Services in the Charest cabinet from April 29, 2003 to June 25, 2008. He received the Medicine, Culture and Society Prize from the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine in 2006 and the Jacques Cartier Medal in 2007. At the end of the QLP leadership race, Philippe Couillard had the support of 58.5% of the 3,000 delegates at the convention on March 17, 2013 in Verdun. On the 7th of April 2014, Philippe Couillard was elected MNA of the electoral division of Roberval, and by the same occasion became the 31st Premier of Quebec.
Kathleen Wynne is Ontario’s 25th Premier. She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 as the MPP for Don Valley West, and she became the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in January, 2013. Kathleen is dedicated to building a better province for all the people of Ontario, by providing high-quality services in the most efficient manner. She and her government are guided by the values that knit this province together: fairness, diversity, collaboration and creativity. Kathleen has served as Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Education and Minister of Agriculture and Food. As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Kathleen finalized a new funding agreement with the federal government to improve access to affordable housing. As the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Kathleen championed Ontario’s $34-billion agri-food industry and brought in the Local Food Act. In her role as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Kathleen worked in partnership with First Nations communities to address issues such as mining development and First Nations land claims, and improving quality of life for aboriginals living off-reserve through affordable housing and recreation programs. As Minister of Education, Kathleen led the government’s efforts to reduce class sizes, implement full-day kindergarten and provide more opportunities for high school students to reach their full potential. During Kathleen’s tenure as the Minister of Transportation, she secured a new transit expansion plan for Toronto including the Eglinton-Scarborough LRT, and oversaw Ontario’s largest highway investments, including the Highway 407 East Extension and the Windsor-Essex Parkway. Kathleen has served as a Public School Trustee in Toronto. She has led citizens’ groups in a number of grassroots community projects, and has played a major role as an organizer and facilitator. This experience has contributed to her results-based approach to life, government and community. Kathleen has three adult children, Chris, Jessie and Maggie, and three grandchildren, Olivia, Claire and Hugh. She and her partner Jane have lived in North Toronto for more than 25 years.
Gov. John Hickenlooper is a lifetime entrepreneur who ran as a “dark horse” to become Mayor of Denver in 2003. He led the campaign to pass FasTracks, the largest regional transportation initiative in U.S. history, and helped convince the 34 metro mayors (2/3 Republican) to unanimously support and pass the 0.4% sales tax increase at the ballot. He recruited top managers to his cabinet from business and wherever he could find them. In eight years he had streamlined the total workforce by 7%, the first such reduction in Denver’s history. In 2005 TIME Magazine named him as one of the five top big-city mayors in America. He recently added “author” to his resume with the publication of his forthcoming memoir, The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics. When he was inaugurated Governor of Colorado in 2011, having run on his history of collaboration for community good, he became the first Denver mayor to be elected governor in 150 years. He also became the first geologist to become a governor in the history of the nation, and the first brewer since Sam Adams in 1792. Again he has recruited talent from all quarters, and is redefining the relationship between a state government and its business and civic communities. Governor Hickenlooper’s goal is to create the most pro-business state government, but with the highest environmental and ethical standards. His administration has already examined more than 16,000 rules and regulations, and either eliminated or streamlined more than half of them. They have created the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN) and provided Advanced Manufacturing Grants to accelerate start-ups and early stage technology businesses. They are building an integrated workforce training system, in conjunction with the Markle Foundation and LinkedIn, that will create a single, seamless continuum for education and workforce preparation, from childhood to old age. Governor Hickenlooper applied his passion to create good government on a national level as well. His 2015 “Chair’s Initiative” at the National Governors Association, focusing on hiring, appropriate creation and implementation of regulations, and continuous improvement, was a bipartisan success. He is a great believer that governors, far more than Congress, can revive American democracy.
Gov. Francisco Dominguez Servien was born in Queretaro, capital of the state of Queretaro, on August 11th, 1966. He has a college degree as a Zootechnician Veterinarian froom the Autonomous University of Queretaro (UAQ); with Specialty in Animal Production by the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM).
A full write up of this event can be found here.