PPF President and CEO Edward Greenspon to step down at end of 2024

Edward Greenspon, President and CEO of the Public Policy Forum, today announced plans to step down from his position at the end of the year.

Greenspon told PPF’s Board of Directors in January that after more than eight years at the helm, the time had arrived for fresh leadership, and that he would stay on through a search process and transition.

“Under Ed’s leadership, PPF’s reach, influence and impact have been transformed,” said Ilse Treurnicht, PPF Chair. “Engagement across the country expanded significantly, policy contributions became both more substantive and more accessible, and the focus on challenging issues of tomorrow made PPF more relevant to Canada’s future. And in between, the organization reshaped its business model for continued growth during a global pandemic. It is a remarkable legacy for which the Board and PPF partners are thankful.”

Greenspon will remain as CEO until Dec. 31, 2024, and will continue his association with PPF as a Senior Advisor to the CEO through the transition, as well as continued engagement in policy work as a PPF Fellow.

Greenspon joined the organization in 2016 and introduced an ‘inclusion to conclusion’ methodology of bringing different parties together to design implementable policy solutions, helping to craft a unique place for PPF in the Canadian marketplace of ideas. “I love to learn and am grateful for the incredible education PPF has provided into this great country my grandparents chose. I’ve had the privilege of working with people from different regions and different sectors on the challenges afoot in the world and what they mean to us at home,” he said.

“It seems to me a good time for new leadership at PPF and new challenges for me. I don’t think I would be particularly skilled at retirement so I plan to concentrate on doing the things I’m best at, like writing and problem-solving.”

Greenspon arrived at PPF after a storied career in journalism in western Canada and at The Globe and Mail, where he was a business journalist, foreign correspondent, Ottawa bureau chief, founding editor of globeandmail.com and Editor-in-Chief for seven years. He was already well acquainted with his new organization, which had honoured him with its Hyman Solomon Award for Public Policy Journalism in 2002.

As President and CEO, Greenspon has guided PPF’s output across a range of topics, including: how the then-new independent Senate could work; a diagnostic of the deteriorating finances of Canadian news media and what could be done, which led to the creation of charitable tax status for news organizations, the Local Journalism Initiative and the Journalism Labour Tax Credit; the development of a ‘duty of care’ approach rather than content takedowns for online hate; an energy transition approach rooted in the belief that the very urgency of climate change raises the necessity for policies to be built on a foundation of shared prosperity, national unity and Indigenous sovereignty; and the need to reinvigorate Canada’s post-pandemic life sciences sector in order to provide residents with improved health care and health security. “Among all the many important issues, perhaps the most rewarding has been getting the chance to work with Indigenous organizations as they assume real sovereignty over their communities,” Greenspon said.

PPF’s Board of Directors has struck a search committee and has retained Griffith Group Executive Search to lead the process.

“We have very big shoes to fill! However, Ed will be leaving a strong organization poised to make its mark in the years ahead, and we are extremely fortunate that we will continue to benefit from his insights and expertise in PPF’s policy work in the future,” said André Beaulieu, PPF’s Vice Chair. “We look forward to properly celebrating his many contributions with the PPF community in the fall and exploring new projects in partnership with him.”

Greenspon said he’s looking forward to helping a new CEO get established and introducing them to PPF’s talented team, exceptional board of directors and hundreds of partners. “Being PPF President is a privilege; you get to work with the best and brightest policy minds on the toughest and most meaningful issues with nothing but the public and national interest in mind.”