Karim Bardeesy
Executive Director, the Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University
Karim is a public service leader who has worked for a better democracy, a more educated and engaged population, and better public policy throughout his professional career. In 2017, he co-founded the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, and took on additional responsibilities as Executive Director of the Brookfield Institute in January 2023. Karim also co-teaches SSH505, “Making the Future,” for which he has won two teaching awards from TMU’s Faculty of Arts.
Karim was previously Deputy Principal Secretary for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and served as Executive Director of Policy for Premiers Wynne and Dalton McGuinty. He was a candidate in Parkdale—High Park in the 2022 Ontario provincial election.
He has worked as a journalist, as a politics and policy columnist for The Toronto Star, an editorial writer and business reporter at The Globe and Mail, and as an editorial assistant at Slate magazine. He also taught leadership at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. Karim holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
He is the son of immigrants from Egypt and England and grew up in Bathurst, New Brunswick. He and his wife are raising their two children in Toronto’s west end.
Sessions:
Following Our Ethical Compass with Clerk of the Privy Council John Hannaford (Friday, April 12 - 9:00 a.m.)
Civic and Youth Engagement Panel (Friday, April 12 - 5:30 p.m.)
Canada Amidst Chaos (Saturday, April 13 - 9:00 a.m.)