Matthew Mendelsohn

Matthew Mendelsohn is a public policy entrepreneur, researcher, strategic advisor, and public sector executive. He has been using public policy to deliver economic and social impact for 25 years. He is currently a Visiting Professor and co-founder of First Policy Response at Ryerson University in Toronto and a Senior Advisor to BCG’s Global Public Sector Practice.

From 2016-2020 he served as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet in the Privy Council Office, where he led the Prime Minister’s Results & Delivery Unit and the Impact & Innovation Unit. During his time in Ottawa, he also co-led the Government of Canada data strategy, oversaw advice on digital and platform governance, and designed Impact Canada, which developed Challenges and outcomes-based funding initiatives for the government.

Prior to his role in the Privy Council Office, Matthew was the founding Director of the Mowat Centre, a public policy think tank in the School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Toronto. During that time, he published and spoke about government transformation, democratic institutions, social and economic policy, and federalism.

Matthew is a former Deputy Minister and Associate Secretary to the Cabinet with the Ontario government and a former Senior Advisor in the federal government’s Privy Council Office where he led the polling unit. He was a chief architect of the 2015 Liberal election platform and a member of Prime Minister Trudeau’s transition team. Matthew received his B.A. from McGill University and Ph.D. from the l’Université de Montréal and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia. He was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University for 10 years and has been an active board member for many non-profit and charitable organizations that support community well-being, civic engagement, and economic and social inclusion.