Media Releases

University of Toronto appoints Ed Clark as Chair of advisory board for School of Public Policy and Governance

April 12, 2011

TORONTO, ON — The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to has appoint­ed W. Edmund (Ed) Clark, Group Pres­i­dent and CEO of TD Bank Group, as chair of the Advi­so­ry Board for the School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance. In this role, Mr. Clark will con­vene a group of top pol­i­cy thinkers and prac­ti­tion­ers to advise the School’s direc­tor on mat­ters relat­ed to the Mas­ter of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Pro­gram as well as its oth­er teach­ing, research and out­reach activ­i­ties.

“The School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance at U of T is doing impor­tant work at a time when there are crit­i­cal ques­tions about the role of gov­ern­ment that need to be con­sid­ered. We live in a dif­fer­ent fis­cal real­i­ty today, which has altered the rela­tion­ship between gov­ern­ments and the pub­lic. It’s espe­cial­ly impor­tant today that debates about pub­lic pol­i­cy focus on con­sid­er­ing what gov­ern­ments should—and should not—do,” Mr. Clark said. “I’m hon­oured to take on the role of the chair of the Advi­so­ry Board because I believe the School is unique­ly posi­tioned to cham­pi­on this debate.”

Ed Clark grad­u­at­ed from U of T with a BA in 1969 and earned his Mas­ter’s degree and doc­tor­ate in Eco­nom­ics from Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty. Dur­ing his dis­tin­guished career in the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, he held a num­ber of senior posi­tions, before enter­ing the pri­vate sec­tor. In 1994, he became pres­i­dent and CEO of CT Finan­cial Ser­vices and then joined TD Bank Group fol­low­ing TD’s acqui­si­tion of CT Finan­cial Ser­vices in 2000. He was appoint­ed pres­i­dent and CEO of TD Bank Group in 2002.

“We’re hon­oured that Ed Clark, one of Canada’s most promi­nent busi­ness and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, has agreed to share his exten­sive expe­ri­ence and wis­dom with his alma mater. Mr. Clark’s lead­er­ship will open up new oppor­tu­ni­ties at this nation­al­ly influ­en­tial hub for pol­i­cy edu­ca­tion and research,” says David Nay­lor, Pres­i­dent of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to. “The School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance has emerged as a major plat­form to address the most press­ing pub­lic pol­i­cy issues that face soci­ety today. We’re grate­ful and excit­ed that Ed Clark will now be help­ing the School in this impor­tant role.”

Ed Clark is also a promi­nent com­mu­ni­ty leader. In 2010, he chaired the Unit­ed Way Toron­to cam­paign and he has also served as co-chair of the Heart and Cir­cu­la­tion Cam­paign for the Uni­ver­si­ty Health Net­work, and sup­ports Wood­green Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices.

“While Mr. Clark left the pub­lic sec­tor long ago, he has nev­er aban­doned pub­lic ser­vice,” says Pro­fes­sor Mark Sta­bile, direc­tor of the School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance. “His own phil­an­thropy and work with not-for-prof­its exem­pli­fy TD Bank’s con­cept of cor­po­rate respon­si­bil­i­ty. Those are the core val­ues we seek to instil in our very tal­ent­ed Mas­ter’s stu­dents who are the future pub­lic pol­i­cy lead­ers.”

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The School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy and Gov­er­nance at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to was estab­lished in 2006. Its man­date is to bring togeth­er researchers, prac­ti­tion­ers and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to con­tribute to pol­i­cy debates, devel­op­ment and dis­cus­sion, and to edu­cate future pol­i­cy prac­ti­tion­ers and lead­ers through its Mas­ter of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy pro­gram.

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Diana Kuprel
Asso­ciate Direc­tor, Devel­op­ment Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Fac­ul­ty of Arts and Sci­ence
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
(416) 946‑3118
d.kuprel@utoronto.ca