Gail Cook-Bennett is a Canadian economist and corporate advisor. She has served on the Boards of

Manulife Financial Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. She is a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

and has been recognized as one of Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100.

Early life and education

Cook-Bennett was born in Ottawa and graduated from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in economics in 1962 and an Masters of Economics in1965. She obtained her Ph.D. in economics from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1968. She holds honorary degrees from Carleton University and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and is a Fellow of the I nstitute of Corporate Directors. of Corporate Directors

Career

Upon receiving her doctorate from the University of Michigan she began teaching at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(1968–74). She later served as Executive Vice President of the

C.D. Howe Institute The C. D. Howe Institute (french: Institut C. D. Howe) is a Canadian nonprofit policy research organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It aims to be distinguished by "research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based, and subject to definitive exper ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

(1974–78) and as Vice Chair of Bennecon Ltd., Management Consultants (1982-1998). In 1998 she became the founding Chair of the

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB; french: Office d'investissement du régime de pensions du Canada), operating as CPP Investments (french: Investissements RPC), is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 ''Cana ...

(CPPIB) where she served for 10 years. She was then appointed Chair of Manulife Financial from 2008 to 2013. Since 2014 she has served as chair for the Institute of Corporate Directors. In addition to her work in the private sector, she has served on several Crown, professional and not-for-profit boards. While a member of the Board of the

Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; french: Banque du Canada) is a Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: Ca ...

, she chaired the Special Committee of the Board charged with appointing both its Governor and Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada. She has chaired the General Services Sectoral Advisory Group to the

Minister of International Trade The Minister of International Trade Diversification () was a minister of the Crown position in the Canadian Cabinet who was responsible for the federal government's international trade portfolio. Along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and t ...

and was a member of The Advisory Committee on Financing (providing advice to the Federal Minister of Finance) and served on the Canadian delegation to the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian economists Carleton University alumni University of Michigan alumni {{Canada-economist-stub