Kim Campbell

Biography

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell served as Canada’s nineteenth and first female Prime Minister in 1993. She previously held cabinet portfolios as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of State for Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans’ Affairs. She was the first woman to hold the Justice and Defence portfolios, and the first woman to be Defence Minister of a NATO country. Kim participated in major international meetings including the Commonwealth, NATO, the G-7 Summit and the United Nations General Assembly. After her tenure as Prime Minister, Kim was a fellow at the Institute of Politics (Spring 1994) and the Joan Shorenstein Center for the Study of Press and Politics (1994-1995) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She served as the Canadian Consul General in Los Angeles (1996-2000), then returned to Harvard to teach at the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School (2001- 2004). Kim is a founding member of the Club of Madrid, an organization of former heads of government and state who work to promote democratic values. She served as Secretary General (2004- 2006). She also has served as its Acting President in 2002, its Vice President in 2003-2004 and served on its Board of Directors from 2007-2011. Kim is a member and chair emerita of the Council of Women World Leaders (1999-2003). The Council’s membership consists of women who hold or have held the office of President or Prime Minister. Kim is a member of the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of women of significant and diverse achievement. She served as its president (2003-2005) and was inducted into the IWF Hall of Fame in 2008. Today, Kim devotes the majority of her time to serving as the founding principal of the new Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta. She is also a trustee of the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College London. She is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, (the West Coast affiliate of the Council on Foreign Relations) and the Global Council of the Asia Society of New York. She is on the advisory board of Equal Voice and an honorary patron of Informed Opinions. She is also a senior advisor to the Crisis Group and an honorary board member of the Climate Action Reserve and previously served as a trustee of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies 2007-2010.

Research Interest

 Cancer