The School of International Service (SIS), in partnership with the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), invites you to a Davos-style conversation on the dynamic and critical relationship between technology, geopolitics and public policy. We welcome special guest Canadian business leader and philanthropist Jim Balsillie, retired Chairman and co-CEO, Research in Motion (BlackBerry). The discussion will be moderated by SIS Dean Shannon Hader and BSIA Director Ann Fitz-Gerald.

What are the implications of the decisions taken by private sector leaders to shape policymaking while promoting ethical and inclusive innovation?
How do tech companies advance new ideas while addressing the complex challenges of data governance, digital sovereignty, and the growth of AI?
How do decisions play out in the context of shifting global politics, predictably and unpredictably?
How do tech leaders navigate geopolitical rivalry?

Biographies:

Jim Balsillie is the retired Chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), a technology company he scaled from an idea to $20 billion in sales globally. Mr. Balsillie’s private investment office includes significant positions in Canadian and global technology companies.

He is the co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York, the Council of Canadian Innovators based in Toronto, and the Digital Governance Council in Ottawa, as well as founder of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, the Centre for Digital Rights, the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and the Arctic Research Foundation. He currently chairs the boards of CCI, CIGI, Innovation Asset Collective and Digital Governance Council. He is also a member of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Advisory Board of the Canada School of Public Service; and an Honorary Captain (Navy) of the Royal Canadian Navy.

Mr. Balsillie was the private sector representative on the UN Secretary General’s High Panel for Sustainability and testified to US Congress about Intellectual Property reform. Mr. Balsillie served on the Digital Advisory Committee in European Union and speaks frequently to policymakers about the digital economy including at the International Monetary Fund, International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy, EU think tanks and Parliaments.

His awards include: several honorary degrees, Mobile World Congress Lifetime Achievement Award, India’s Priyadarshni Academy Global Award, Canadian Business Hall of Fame, Time Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People and three times Barron’s list of “World’s Top CEOs.

Ann Fitz-Gerald (moderator) is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department. She has worked at both at King’s College, London University’s International Policy Institute, and at Cranfield University, where she was the Director, Defence and Security Leadership. During her time at Cranfield, Ann led the UK-Government funded Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform and Cranfield’s Centre for Security Sector Management. She also designed and developed the Masters programme in Security Sector Management, which is delivered in both the UK and East Africa.

Shannon Hader (moderator), MD, MPH, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of Programmes at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and a prominent leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the United States and globally, is the dean of the School of International Service at American University.

Before accepting the position at the UN, Dr. Hader served as Director of the Division of Global HIV and TB at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She also has served as Vice President and Director at Futures Group International (now Palladium); as Senior Deputy Director of the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration at the District of Columbia Department of Health; Senior Scientific Advisor to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at the US Department of State.

Addressing Global Challenges Through Tech Innovation