Towards 2030: Building Canada’s Engagement in Global Sustainable Development

About the Presenters

Margaret Biggs
Margaret Biggs is currently the Skelton-Clark Fellow at the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University. From 2008-2013 she was President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) respon­sible for overseeing Canada's international develop­ment and humanitarian assistance efforts worldwide. Previously, Margaret served as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, and Assistant Secretary, Priorities and Planning, in the Privy Council Office from 2002-2008. She has extensive background at the Assistant Depu­ty Minister level in social, labour market and learning policy and in federal-provincial relations. Margaret has represented Canada in numerous international fora. A native of Vancouver, Margaret is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University.

John W. McArthur
John W. McArthur is a Senior Fellow with the Brook­ings Institution and a Senior Fellow with the United Nations Foundation. A Canadian from Vancouver, he previously managed the UN Millennium Project, the advisory body to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and served as CEO of Millennium Promise, the interna­tional non-governmental organization. He has been a faculty member at Columbia University and Policy Director at the Earth Institute. As a Research Fellow at the Harvard Center for International Development he supported the WHO Commission on Macroeco­nomics and Health and co-authored the Global Com­petitiveness Report. In 2013-14 he chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Poverty and Sustainable Development. In 2009 he was recog­nized as a Young Global Leader. He received a DPhil (PhD) and MPhil in Economics at Oxford Universi­ty (Rhodes Scholar), an MPP at Harvard Kennedy School and a BA (Honours) at UBC.