Peter Nicholson

Past President

As inaugural President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council (April 2006 - December 2009), Dr. Nicholson brought almost four decades of experience in academic, business and public sector roles.

With a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University, an MSc in Physics from Dalhousie University and a computer science faculty stint at the University of Minnesota, he has complemented this academic background with a series of assignments alternating between the public and private sectors. These have included senior executive positions in the banking, telecom and fishing industries; and a variety of federal government positions including Finance (1994-95) and the Prime Minister's Office, where he was Chief of Policy (2004-05). Dr. Nicholson also served as Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the OECD (2002-03).

He has served in a broad range of voluntary roles including the National Advisory Board of Science and Technology; the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (as founding chair); the Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; and as founding chair of the Members of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

In 2002 Dr. Nicholson was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

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