KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

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TONY CLEMENT

Canada Minister of Industry

Tony Clement was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006 and re-elected in 2008. On February 6, 2006, he was appointed Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.

Prior to running for federal office, Mr. Clement was a member of Ontario’s provincial legislature from 1995 to 2003, representing Brampton South (later, Brampton West–Mississauga). He served as Minister of Transportation; Minister of the Environment; Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing; and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Prior to his election he was counsel to a national law firm. 

Mr. Clement holds a bachelor of arts in political science and a law degree from the University of Toronto.

Mr. Clement is a recipient of the Courage in Public Policy Award from the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute of Canada. The award was given to him in recognition of his leadership in supporting the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer Corporation. 

Mr. Clement resides in Port Sydney with his wife Lynne and their three children.

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GARY LOCKE

United States Secretary of Commerce

Gary Locke was appointed by President Obama as the 36th Secretary of Commerce and sworn into office on March 26, 2009.

At the Department of Commerce, Locke is charged with helping implement President Obama’s ambitious agenda to turn around the economy and put people back to work.

As the first Chinese-American to hold this post in a president’s cabinet, Locke has a distinctly American story. His grandfather emigrated from China to Washington state, initially finding employment as a servant, working in exchange for English lessons. Locke’s father, also born in China, was a small business owner, operating a grocery store where Locke worked while receiving his education from Seattle’s public school system. His strong work ethic and determination eventually took him to the highest office in the state of Washington.

Prior to his appointment, Locke helped U.S. companies break into international markets as a partner in the Seattle office of the international law firm, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. There, he co-chaired the firm’s China practice and was active in its governmental relations practice.

As the popular two-term governor of Washington, the nation’s most trade-dependent state, Locke broke down trade barriers around the world to advance American products. He helped open doors for Washington State businesses by leading 10 productive trade missions to Asia, Mexico and Europe, significantly expanding the sale of Washington products and services. He also successfully strengthened economic ties between China and Washington State. His visits are credited with introducing Washington companies to China and helping more than double the state’s exports to China to over $5 billion per year.

As part of his considerable trade and economic development efforts, Locke launched Washington’s Competitiveness Council with business, labor and civic leaders working together to effectively position Washington State for success at home and around the world. During the eight years of the Locke Administration, the state gained 280,000 jobs.

Locke earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a law degree from Boston University. He is married to Mona Lee Locke. They have three children: Emily, Dylan and Madeline.

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GERARDO RUIZ MATEOS

Mexico Secretary of Economy

Gerardo Ruiz Mateos was appointed Economy Secretary by President Felipe Calderón on August 6 2008.

Since 1989, Ruiz Mateos was Director-General of Automotive Moulding Mexico, now known as Linde Pullman Mexico, where he handled the growth strategy based on the model of a highly participatory social firm.

Among the activities he has undertaken in the private and social sector, he has been President of the Mexican Foundation for Rural Development in the State of Mexico in 1995 and he was a member of the Council of the Social Union of Mexican Businessmen from 1996 to 2000, and president of this council in 2000.

He has been a member of the National Action Party since 1995 and was a member of the National Executive Committee from 2002 to 2005 and President of the Surveillance Commission of the National Council in 2001 and 2002. He also served as Executive Secretary of the Party’s National Executive Committee from 1996 to 1998.

From December 2005 to July 2006, he was Administration and Finance Coordinator of the Felipe Calderón's presidential campaign. Once Felipe Calderón was declared President Elect, he was appointed Technical Coordinator of the Transition.

President Felipe Calderón nominated Gerardo Ruiz Mateos Coordinator of Cabinets and Special Projects of the President’s Office, whose functions include coordinating the actions of the various cabinets to meet the goals set by the president in a timely fashion; coordinate the actions related to the strategic agenda, to align public policies and the National Development Plan (NDP) with a long-range project geared towards 2030 and coordinate the special projects assigned by the president. He also held the position of Head of the President’s Office.

He holds a degree in industrial and systems engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and has a specialty in Economics andFinance. He also has a Diploma in Social Formation given by the Social Union of Businessmen in Mexico, and completed a Top Management at IPADE.

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GARY DOER

Canada Ambassador to the United States

In October, 2009, Gary Doer assumed his responsibilities as Canada’s 23rd representative to the United States of America.

Prior to taking up his current position in Washington, Ambassador Doer served as Premier of Manitoba for ten years. During that time, he worked extensively with U.S. Governors to enhance Canada-U.S. cooperation on trade, agriculture, water protection, climate change and renewable energy.

Ambassador Doer won three consecutive elections as Premier of Manitoba with successive increased majorities. In 2005, he was named by Business Week magazine as one of the top 20 international leaders on climate change. His government introduced balanced budgets during each of his ten years in office while reducing many taxes, including a plan to eliminate small business tax. As Premier, he led strategic investments in health care, education, and training and infrastructure.

Ambassador Doer hails from Winnipeg. He is married with two daughters.

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DAVID JACOBSON

United States Ambassador to Canada

Ambassador Jacobson was sworn in at the State Department in Washington, D.C. as U.S. Ambassador on September 25, 2009 and presented his credentials to the Governor General of Canada on October 2, 2009. Most recently he served as Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel. Before serving in the White House, Ambassador Jacobson spent 30 years gaining expertise in the areas of complex commercial, class action, securities, insurance and business litigation as a partner at the law firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP. While working as a partner at Sonnenschein, Ambassador Jacobson also founded AtomWorks, an organization to bring together corporate, civic and academic leaders in order to foster nanotechnology in the Midwest. He also served as a member of CEOs for Cities, a national bipartisan alliance of 75 mayors, corporate executives, university presidents and nonprofit leaders organized to advance the economic competitiveness of cities. Ambassador Jacobson received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and was the Administrative Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. He received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

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ARTURO SARUKHAN

Mexico Ambassador to the United States

The grandson of refugees in Mexico, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan is a career diplomat. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs and was posted in 1993 to the Mexican Embassy in the United States where he first served as Chief of Staff to the Ambassador, and then as head of the counternarcotics office. In 2000 he became Chief of Policy Planning at the Foreign Ministry and was appointed by the President as Mexican Consul General to New York City in 2003. He resigned from this post and took a leave of absence from the Foreign Service in 2006 to join the Presidential Campaign of Felipe Calderón as Foreign Policy Advisor and International Spokesperson, and became Coordinator for Foreign Affairs in the Transition Team. In November 2006 he received the rank of Ambassador, and in February 2007 was appointed Mexican Ambassador to the United States.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Sarukhan played a key role in the non-governmental Bilateral Commission on the Future of US-Mexico Relations as the Executive Director of this civil society initiative.

Ambassador Sarukhan is active in various organizations such as the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Policy Association and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London; is a board member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and is also a part of the Executive Council on Diplomacy Ambassadors Advisory Board. He has taught in various universities and published articles on issues related to foreign policy in a variety of journals and magazines. He holds a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México and an MA in US Foreign Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he was a Fulbright Scholar and Ford Foundation Fellow. He has been decorated by the governments of Spain and Sweden. Ambassador Sarukhan is married and has two young daughters.

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