CSPS Digital Academy Events/Building a Digital Democracy for All - Speaker Biographies

Speaker Biographies for Building a Digital Democracy for All

June 15, 2022 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

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Speaker Biographies

	Neil Bouwer Vice-President, Innovation and Skills Development Branch, Canada School of Public Service Neil Bouwer 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. Neil actively supports the Government of Canada policy and data communities, the Advanced Policy Analyst Program and the Free Agent HR Program.
	Peter Pomeranzev Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, Agora Institute Peter Pomeranzev is a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Agora Institute, where he co-directs the Arena Initiative, a research project dedicated to overcoming the challenges of digital era disinformation and polarisation. His book on Russian propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, It is translated into over a dozen languages and was dramatized on BBC Radio 4. His latest book, This is Not Propaganda, was released in August 2019, and won the Gordon Burn Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and regularly presents radio documentaries on BBC Radio 4. He is a 2022 Emmerson Collective Fellow
	Peter A. Ferguson Senior Policy Advisor, Open Government, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat PETER A. FERGUSON has been a Senior Policy Advisor with Open Government in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat since September 2021. He has a PhD in political science from the University of British Columbia and has 20 years of experience as a professor having held positions at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Western Ontario. He taught courses on international relations; American politics; elections; development; human rights; and research methodology. He has published extensively on topics including democratic transitions and failures; public opinion; political leadership; intergovernmental affairs; and pedagogy. At Western, Peter was the Director (and founder) of the Leadership and Democracy Lab, an independent think tank staffed by volunteer undergraduate researchers who conduct political risk assessments for Canadian organizations doing business abroad. Peter has received numerous teaching awards including being the first, two-time winner of the Western Alumni Teaching Excellence Award.
	Tanya Filer Founder, StateUp and Policy & Research Leader, Bennett Institute, University of Cambridge Dr. Tanya Filer is Founder and CEO of StateUp and founded the Digital State project at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. Tanya has worked with public sector and international organisations, technology companies and research institutes across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East on shaping their digital governance, GovTech, and technology policy agendas. She is widely published in academic and media publications, including Wired, NS Tech and Brookings Tech Stream. Public-purpose technology adoption is becoming increasingly essential for addressing big public needs, but is often stymied by disconnected knowledge, data gulfs, & siloed learning and relationships. StateUp develops, curates, and contextualises top-tier public-purpose technology data, research, and learning to contribute to addressing this problem at scale. Tanya has lectured and supervised across postgraduate programmes at Cambridge, including the MPhil in Public Policy, and at Yale and Oxford. She also directed the Internet and Digital Economy Parliamentary Scheme upskilling programme for MPs in the UK. Tanya sits on the Steering Committee of the Cambridge Trust and Technology Initiative and Advisory Board of the Information Law and Policy Centre, School of Advanced Studies, University of London, and served on the Council on the Future of Information and Entertainment at the World Economic Forum. Tanya was a UK-Israel British Council fellow in Cyber research in 2018, and has held fellowships at Harvard, Yale, and the Library of Congress. She is a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and UCL.
	Jean Cardinal Director, Open Government, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Jean Cardinal is currently the Director of Open Government at Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Prior to joining the Public Service, Jean worked in the private sector for 15 years, in a variety of sectors, including marketing, sales & high tech. Jean joined the Public Service 13 years ago, starting at the National Capital Commission. In 2012, he then joined the Canada School of Public Service where he has held a variety of leadership positions in learning and development related to specialized fields of study including, but not limited to: Information management & technology, access to information & privacy, human resources, finance, security, etc. In 2021, he joined the Open Government team with the goal of continuing to champion Open Government and Data in the Canadian federal public service and beyond. He is the proud father of two wonderful young ladies, ages 13 and 10.