Pierre Sabourin

Fellow

 

Pierre Sabourin has over 30 years of experience in senior roles in the federal government. As Assistant Deputy Minister at Health Canada, he led the regulatory branch responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading Canada to become the first country to approve a vaccine. During his tenure, he also led the design and launch of the new Canada Food Guide and secured long-term financial sustainability for the pharmaceuticals approval model.

As Vice-President of the Canadian Border Services Agency, Pierre led operations across all Canadian border points, managing over 10,000 employees and a $1 billion budget. His efforts in re-engineering operations and implementing innovative systems, like Automated Border Crossing, improved efficiency and enhanced border processing capacity.

In the role of Assistant Deputy Minister at Foreign Affairs and International Trade, he created and led the International Platform branch, providing corporate services to federal government departments and agencies operating in Canadian Embassies and Consulates. Prior to this, he served as Chief Information Officer and led a number of roles for the Trade Commissioner Service, particularly in service re-engineering and information technology.

Pierre was a part-time professor for 18 years at the University of Ottawa. He led information technology and innovation management courses within the university’s Executive MBA program. He designed and implemented the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course, an innovative course based on experiential learning with a consulting assignment in Silicon Valley. He was recognized as the University of Ottawa’s Part-Time Professor of the Year in 2004.

Pierre holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa, a finance degree from HEC Montréal, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Université de Sherbrooke.

He joined PPF as a Fellow in 2025.