Neil Bouwer is a Professor of Practice at the Max Bell School and the former Vice-President of the Innovation and Skills Development Branch at the Canada School of Public Service. He has also served as an Assistant Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the Privy Council Office of Canada; and in executive positions at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada. He has also worked at the Department of Finance and Western Economic Diversification Canada, and has Economics degrees from McGill University and St. Thomas University. For many years Neil actively supported the Government of Canada policy and data communities, the Advanced Policy Analyst Program and the Free Agent HR Program. Neil is excited to bring his many years of Public Service experience to his work at the Max Bell School of Public Policy.

Lewis Eisen is the developer of the Perfect Policies™ approach to using respectful language in policy drafting, which has influenced organizations globally. His Amazon international bestseller *Rules: Powerful Policy Wording to Maximize Engagement* is now in its 4th edition. Lewis draws on 40 years’ combined experience as a practising lawyer, business consultant, and federal civil servant, and spends his time delivering workshops and speaking to groups of HR and other professionals around the world.

Dr. Leslie A Fierro is the Sydney Duder Professor of Program Evaluation in the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. She is an evaluation practitioner and scholar with more than 20 years of experience. ​Originally trained as an epidemiologist, she became an “accidental” evaluator during her ​time working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the early 2000’s. Since then, she has immersed herself in learning how to make evaluation (including her ​own practice) more meaningful and impactful. She has had the pleasure to work as an ​employee or consultant in many sectors, including the U.S. and Canadian Federal ​governments, the private sector, philanthropic/non-profit sector, and academia. In these roles ​she has engaged in scholarship and practice that aims to increase our collective understanding of how to strengthen the capacity of organizations to commission, conduct, and use high-quality evaluations.

Her work includes, but is not limited to, envisioning and implementing the Evaluation Capacity Case Challenge (EC3), conducting a ​review of U.S. federal agency evaluation policies, performing a study on evaluative thinking, ​researching organizational evaluation capacity (and measurement), and leading an evaluation of the Canadian Evaluation Society’s Credentialed Evaluator (CE) Designation.

Proud civil servant with nearly 30 years’ experience working in diverse economic and social public policy fields. Over the past decade, Denise has led on several horizontal and whole-of-government strategies, and in 2019 became the Government of Canada lead for Gender-based Analysis Plus – or – GBA Plus. Denise is a bold advocate for GBA Plus because of the valuable insights it generates for better and more responsive government programs and policies. When public policy practitioners hone their GBA Plus competencies, they have a powerful tool at their disposal to change cultures, tackle discrimination and effect change.

André Loranger is an experienced senior public official, having worked at Statistics Canada for 26 years, leading large and complex statistical programs covering all aspects of the Canadian economy. He has previously served in various senior leadership positions in the Agency including Assistant Chief Statistician for Economic Statistics and Assistant Chief Statistician for Strategic Data Management, Methods and Analysis. In that capacity, Mr. Loranger was also Statistics Canada’s Chief Data Officer responsible for the overall stewardship of the organization’s information data holdings.

Mr. Loranger represents Statistics Canada on various international expert groups pertaining to economic statistics. He is currently the chair of the United Nations Network of Economic Statisticians and the chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting.

Mr. Loranger holds an M.A. (Economics) degree and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Economics) from the University of Ottawa.

Élyse is a Ph.D. Candidate with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education, working with Dr. Isabelle Bourgeois. The focus of Élyse’s research is the theory-policy-practice connection with a specific focus on the implementation and impact of the Government of Canada’s 2016 Policy on Results on the capacity to do and use evaluations. Élyse is also an Evaluation Manager with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and has over 16 years of experience in research and evaluation. Her work spans many areas including research funding, education, public health, homelessness, mental health and addictions. Through her work, Élyse emphasizes considerations of capacity building, equity and inclusion, as well as the use of evaluation to support learning and evidence-based decision.

Jérôme Mercier is the Head of Evaluation at Employment and Social Development Canada since December 2021. Prior to joining the evaluation area in September 2019, Jérôme worked at the Treasury Board Secretariat on expenditure and compensation analysis in the areas of pay equity; at the OECD where he contributed to a publication on long-term care financing and the Employment Outlook and at the Department of Finance in the areas of personal income tax and federal-provincial relations. Jérôme Mercier holds a master’s degree in economics from Queen’s University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from Laval Université.

Pushpita Saha is a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) specialist with over 10 years of experience designing and leading MEL systems in gender, economic, and climate justice across Bangladesh, Africa, and the Middle East. With expertise in qualitative and quantitative methodologies, Pushpita has coordinated complex impact evaluations and performance assessments for international development programs, focusing on feminist and decolonizing approaches. Passionate about knowledge equity, she champions Southern-led solutions while advancing climate and health innovations, gender equality, and youth empowerment. A skilled storyteller, Pushpita uses research and evaluation insights to inform policy, drive social change, and amplify marginalized voices globally.

Kim is a proud member of the ‘Namgis Nation, and completed her PhD in Psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and her dissertation research focused on a comprehensive participatory evaluation of a Federally funded First Nations substance abuse treatment centre. Kim has over 25 years of experience conducting local, provincial and national program evaluations, and conducting research. Kim has received many awards and distinctions for her research and evaluation work.

Sofia was born and raised on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw, and mi ce:p kʷətxʷiləm Nations. Sofia is of mixed ancestry, though her strongest cultural roots are through her maternal side connecting to her tierra in Colombia, South America. Sofia has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Simon Fraser University, where her passion was deepened for critical reflection of systems and heart-centred values that affect all aspects of her work and life. Passions she was able to foster and grow through the work she does at Reciprocal Consulting. In her role, Sofia is passionate about adapting systems to meet people’s needs as well as working collaboratively. Sofia also thrives on fostering relationships and deepening understanding through the organizational and community education work she is privileged to do at Reciprocal Consulting. Sofia has a special affinity toward systems in public health and access to safe inclusive services.