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September 12, 2018 – William Robson, President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, announces the appointment of Nobina Robinson as a Senior Fellow.

“Nobina’s career encompasses public service and post-secondary education, with experience internationally and in Canada,” comments Robson. “The C.D. Howe Institute’s human capital research has benefited from her insights, and we look forward to further collaboration.”

Nobina Robinson is an Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. She recently retired as Chief Executive Officer of Polytechnics Canada after nine years of leadership for the national association that represents the leading Canadian polytechnics and colleges in Canada.

Mrs. Robinson began her public service career in 1990 when she joined the Treasury Board Secretariat as a management trainee. Two years later, she became a Canadian Foreign Service Officer and was posted as a political officer to the Canadian Embassy in Havana, Cuba from 1994 to 1997.  From 1998 to 2002, Mrs. Robinson led FOCAL, a policy institute on Canada’s relations with the Americas.

Before joining Polytechnics Canada, Mrs. Robinson was the Ottawa-based Senior Government Relations Advisor for Seneca College, responsible for federal advocacy for one of Canada's largest colleges.

As Polytechnics Canada’s CEO, Mrs. Robinson successfully advocated for federal funding for studies inclusive of polytechnic and college and applied research, extending beyond university and post-doctoral research. She was instrumental in urging the federal government to establish the Canada Apprentice Loan program in 2014.

Mrs. Robinson has a B.A. from Amherst College, an M.A. from Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar 1985-1988) and has pursued post-graduate studies at Yale University.

Mrs. Robinson served as a member of the Expert Panel on the Review of Federal Support to Research and Development that completed its work in October 2011. 

Nobina has written numerous media commentaries about Canada’s innovation and talent challenges and opportunities for modernizing Canada’s skills and research ecosystems. 

For more information please contact: C.D. Howe Institute at 416-865-1904; email: media@cdhowe.org.

The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. Widely considered to be Canada's most influential think tank, the Institute is a trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review.