Dominic Barton: China, Africa & Leadership

Biography

Mr. Dominic Barton was appointed as Canada’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of the China by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on September 4, 2019. Prior to his nomination, Ambassador Barton was a Global Managing Partner at McKinsey & Company where he served from 2009 to 2018. Ambassador Barton also served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden. He was also a board member of the Olayan Group, a private family-owned company.

In 2016, Ambassador Barton assumed the responsibility of Chair for the Canadian Minister of Finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. He was also the Chair of the Seoul International Business Advisory Council for six years prior to his nomination. Ambassador Barton also served as a Senior Trustee of the Brookings Institution, as a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, and as a member of the boards of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Mr. Barton is also one of the founders of Focusing Capital on the Long Term (FCLTGlobal).

Ambassador Barton has co-authored four books, including on topics related to financial management and leadership. He is an Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the recipient of eight honorary doctorates, including from the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and the University of Edinburgh.

Ambassador Barton graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and has a Master of Philosophy in Economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.