James R. Nininger
Jim Nininger is a native of Ottawa. He received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Michigan.
From 1978 to 2001, Dr. Nininger was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Conference Board of Canada. The Conference Board is Canada’s premier independent research organization in the areas of economics, management and public policy.
Prior to joining the Conference Board, Dr. Nininger was on the faculty of the School of Business at Queen’s University. In addition to teaching, he was involved in research and consulting.
Dr. Nininger has been actively involved in corporate governance throughout his career. He has served on the board of directors of Power Corporation of Canada, where he chaired the audit committee and served on the compensation committee, and the board of directors of Canadian Pacific Railway Company, where he served on the safety and environment committee and the management resources and compensation committee. He also served on the board of management of the Canada Revenue Agency.
Dr. Nininger has had a specific interest in the governance of health organizations. He served on the board of The Ottawa Hospital where he helped to design a new governance model and was involved in its implementation. He also served on the founding board of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, and more recently has served that organization as a faculty member on seminars on the role of the board in quality and safety.
Most recently, Dr. Nininger served as Chair, Governance Review Task Force which examined the governance of the Alberta Health System. The Task Force, appointed by the Minister of Health in Alberta in May 2012 issued its report in December 2012. In 2013, he served as a member of the Governance Review Task Force for the Canadian Cancer Society.
In the not-for-profit sector, Dr. Nininger served on chair of the board of the Community Foundation of Ottawa and served on the board of the Community Foundations of Canada.
