STAFF

Matthew Mendelsohn, Director
	Matthew grew up in Montreal and comes from a long line of peddlers. He now peddles evidence-based policy ideas – particularly those designed to strengthen Ontario in Canada and transform how governments deliver public goods. Matthew founded the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy & Governance in 2009. It delivers research-driven recommendations on Canada’s most challenging policy problems and serves as Ontario’s independent voice on public policy. From 2004-2009, Matthew served as a Deputy Minister in the Ontario government where he held responsibility for Intergovernmental Affairs, the Democratic Renewal Secretariat, and the Office of International Relations and Protocol. He also served as Associate Secretary to the Cabinet in Cabinet Office. Matthew spent 10 years as a member of the Political Studies Department at Queen’s University and served as the Director of the Canadian Opinion Research Archive. From 1996-1998, Matthew was a senior advisor in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. Matthew received his B.A. from McGill University and Ph.D. from the l’Université de Montréal, and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia. He has travelled across Canada several times by motorcycle and believes that Canada is home to some of the world’s great cities. He still misses Vancouver and snowboarding on real mountains. Whenever he returns to Montreal he is forced to relive his greatest heartache: the Montreal Expos. An active volunteer for many not-for-profit organizations, Matthew is currently on the boards of Civix, the Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance, l’Idée fédérale, and the United Way of Greater Toronto. Matthew believes that governments will do the right thing most of the time. He lives in downtown Toronto with his wife, two young sons and a troublesome dog named Whiskey – who always remind him to try to do the right thing as well. matthew@mowatcentre.ca
Josh Hjartarson, Policy Director
	Josh received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto in 2005. He has written and lectured extensively on federal-provincial relations, public sector transformation, and the welfare state. His book on financial sector reform, Foreign Banks and Financial Reform, was published in 2009. He was appointed to the as a faculty member at the School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Toronto in 2012. Josh also brings policy and management experience from the public sector, having served in various positions with the Government of Ontario in Intergovernmental Affairs, Cabinet Office, and the Ministry of Finance. Prior to beginning his Ph.D., he lived in Central Europe and worked for Bank Austria in its financial markets research division. He was born and raised in a small town in Alberta. josh@mowatcentre.ca
Jennifer Gold, Senior Policy Associate
	Jennifer holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Cambridge. She joined Mowat in 2011 following spells at UK-based think tanks Demos and the Institute for Government. In 2009, she was a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She has worked on research projects addressing public sector transparency and reform, public bodies, migration, civic engagement and volunteerism. She grew up in London, United Kingdom. jennifer@mowatcentre.ca
Robert Joshi, Executive Researcher in Residence, Energy Policy
	Robert Joshi has 10 years experience at the interconnection between energy, environmental and economic policy. Robert’s experience includes work for the energy industry, the B.C. Premier’s Office, Ontario’s Cabinet Office and as an independent consultant. Robert has a Master’s of Economics from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Ontario. robert@mowatcentre.ca
Tatiana Khanberg, Energy Policy Associate
	Tatiana holds a Masters degree in International Relations and Political Science from the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto where she researched the geopolitics of energy and energy governance. She was previously a Researcher at the G8 Research Group and has served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of International Law and International Relations. Tatiana also speaks Russian. tatiana@mowatcentre.ca
Neville McGuire, Communications Specialist (Digital Media) & Senior Policy Associate
	Neville holds a Master in Communication from Carleton University, where he studied organizational theory, activism and social change. Before coming to the Mowat Centre he conducted policy research for numerous Ontario-based organizations, worked with marginalized youth in Ottawa, and produced music for film and interactive media. neville@mowatcentre.ca
Jon Medow, Policy Associate
	Jon holds a Master of Arts in political science from the University of Toronto, where his research focused on the ethics of immigration policy. He previously served as a Research Associate specializing in post-secondary education policy at the Toronto office of the Educational Policy Institute. Jon grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan and became a permanent resident of Canada in 2009. jon@mowatcentre.ca
Melissa Molson, Policy Liaison
	Prior to joining the Mowat Centre, she was a policy analyst in the Ontario government at the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, where she worked on the fiscal imbalance file. She has traveled extensively throughout India, China, and Southeast Asia, as well as spending four years living and working in Taiwan. She was born and raised in Toronto and also speaks Mandarin. Melissa studied international relations, politics and history at the University of Toronto. melissa@mowatcentre.ca
James Pearce, Policy Associate
	James holds a Master in Public Administration from Carleton University and a Master of Arts in political science from the University of Toronto where he researched Canadian federalism and post-secondary education policy. He has previously worked as a research assistant for the publication How Ottawa Spends and as a counselor at a camp for children with learning disabilities. He grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. james@mowatcentre.ca
Laura Rosen Cohen, Communications Specialist (Media & Events)
	Laura has an Honours B.A. in English and history and has worked in progressively more senior communications roles at U of T since 2002. In addition to her work at U of T, Laura's op-eds and feature articles have been published in the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, the National Post, and the Jerusalem Post among others. Her writing focuses on politics, history, disability issues and current affairs. She speaks French and Hebrew. laura@mowatcentre.ca
Valeria Sladojevic-Sola, Project Manager
	Valeria holds a Journalism diploma from Humber College, and is also a part-time student working toward a degree in Political Science and International Relations here at U of T. Before joining the Mowat team, her administrative activities included conference and event organization, multi-media design, and coordinating federal and provincial research grants for the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering and for the Faculty of Nursing. Val also speaks Croatian. val@mowatcentre.ca