Simon Blanchette

Background

About Simon Blanchette

Simon is a recognized expert in the fields of leadership, future skills and future of work, innovation, change management, governance, AI and EDI, with nearly a decade of experience at the top of these fields. He collaborates with various research institutes across Canada. Most recently, as Director of Partnerships & Learning at Vicinity Jobs Inc (now part of the Conference Board of Canada), he worked to expand access to labour market data and turn workforce trends into actionable insights for organizations. Simon’s expertise extends to program design, implementation and evaluation related to change management, knowledge and skills acquisition, leadership training, governance, and EDI. Among others, he has worked with the BMO Chair in Governance at the Université de Montreal, BMO, Sunlife, the Standards Council of Canada, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Government of Canada, and the Fédération des Chambres de Commerce du Québec. An experienced executive coach and educator, Simon has worked with hundreds of senior executives to facilitate their learning and support their development as leaders. His clients include large corporations and SMEs in various sectors, as well as government departments and agencies. During his tenure at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Diversity Institute and Future Skills Centre, Simon led and contributed to many of the institute seminal and most impactful projects including: • The creation of the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub • The analysis of the Global Innovation Clusters (with Innovation, Science, and Development Canada) • The creation of the Diversity Assessment Tool (DAT) • The DiversityLeads project assessing diversity in governance across Canada • The Skills Bridge learning management system creation with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce • The 50-30 Challenge • The Mindframe Connect program A sought-after expert panelist and speaker, he has presented his work in prestigious conferences, such as the Academy of Management Annual Meeting and the European Group on Organization Studies Annual International Colloquium. He is the coauthor of recent studies on women and work as well as training gaps and skills gaps in SMEs, with more forthcoming. A committed educator, Simon actively lectures at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive MBA levels in the Desautels Faculty of Management (McGill University), the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University), and the Global Leaders Institute.