Arthur Carty
Arthur Carty is the National Science Advisor and the former president of the National Research Council of Canada, the federal government’s leading knowledge and innovation organization. The former University of Waterloo chemistry professor and dean has published more than 300 journal articles and book chapters in the field of synthetic chemistry and metallic clusters. Carty is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the former president of the Canadian Society for Chemistry. He has received 10 honorary degrees from Canadian and foreign universities and is an Officer of the Order of Canada and an Officer of the National Order of Merit of France. He serves on the board of the Canadian Space Agency.

Gwynne Dyer
Gwynne Dyer is one of Canada’s most respected and prolific freelance journalists, broadcasters and lecturers. A former teacher, he also served in the Canadian, American and British navies and taught military history and war studies. His syndicated columns on international affairs appear in newspapers in more than 40 countries. He has written and produced numerous TV, film and radio projects, including two award-winning TV series, War and The Defence of Canada, which examined Canada’s military role on the international scene, as well as the radio series The Gorbachev Revolution, which followed the changes occurring in Eastern Europe. He also served as a military commentator in Canada during the Gulf War. Dyer received an International Film Festival Award in 1984 and a Gemini for writing The Space Between in 1986.

Scott Griffin
Scott Griffin is founder of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry and the Griffin Prize, one of the world’s largest annual literary awards for poetry published in English. But his work on behalf of poetry and Canadian literature extends beyond that. He combined his passion for literature with his entrepreneurial skills by rescuing House of Anansi Press, one of Canada’s premier and pioneer small publishers that has a long tradition of promoting Canadian poetry, from financial collapse. Griffin is now its chairm, director and major shareholder and has expanded its offerings both nationally and internationally. He is also chair and director of General Kinetics Engineering Corporation and Advance Precision Limited, prominent players in the Canadian automotive industry.

Michael MacMillan
Michael MacMillan, Executive Chairman of Alliance Atlantis Communications, is a leader in the field of media and communications in Canada and around the world. He is also an advocate for Canadian media, culture and education. Alliance Atlantis is a leading specialty broadcaster and film development and distribution company. Its Entertainment Group is the only Canadian organization to have won Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globe awards. In addition to being a leader in developing and promoting Canadian film and television, MacMillan is a strong supporter of the Scottish studies program at the University of Guelph and a leader in founding the Chair in Scottish Studies, the first of its kind outside Scotland. He continues to be a role model in his advocacy efforts, especially regarding the function private donors can play in supporting the arts and humanities in academia.

John McMurtry
John McMurtry is an internationally recognized scholar and University professor emeritus-elect who has made outstanding contributions in the discipline of philosophy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a President’s Distinguished Professor, McMurtry is known for being engaged both in the classroom and the community. He studies the philosophies of politics, economics, education, literature, history and the environment, and his work has been published in more than 150 books and journals. Most recently, he has focused his research on the value structure of economic theory and its consequences for global civil and environmental life. McMurtry was selected by the United Nations as organizing author and editor of Philosophy and World Problems, which will be included in the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems.

Stephen Strauss
Stephen Strauss is an award-winning science writer and columnist. He wrote articles, columns and editorials about science and technology for the Globe and Mail for more than 20 years. He is the author of  three books and a book chapter on biotechnology and the media, and has been a contributing writer to MIT's Technology Review Magazine and to University Affairs magazine. Strauss was the inaugural Donner Foundation Fellow at the University of Guelph, an award that allows the recipient to spend up to a year on campus writing a book exploring an emerging issue in agriculture, food or biotechnology. He is also a former member of Health Canada’s Science Advisory Board.

Marci McDonald
Marci McDonald is a freelance journalist and contributing editor to The Walrus magazine.
She has served as a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report, where she spent four years as a senior writer. A former bureau chief for Maclean’s in Paris and Washington, she has written for the Washington Post, the Washington Monthly, Toronto Life and Canadian Geographic. She has won six National Magazine Awards, including a Gold award for her feature “Blind Trust” on Paul Martin and his Canadian Steamship Lines company.