Shawn S. Cooper is Managing Director and Country Manager for Canada, Russell Reynolds Associates. He leads the CEO⁄Board Services Practice and the Financial Services Sector in Canada. He is also active in other fields, including not-for-profit and executive assessment.

Prior to joining the firm in 1998, Shawn was a corporate strategist for 10 years. As Vice President of the Financial Institutions Division at the Canadian Bankers Association, he led the industry’s successful drive to deregulate Canadian financial markets and products. He also played a key role in NAFTA and WTO negotiations on cross-border trade and services. As Scotiabank’s Director of Corporate Affairs, he advised the Chairman and CEO and his executive team on merger-related issues. Earlier, he was in the strategic planning group. In the United States, he worked in the Financial Institutions Ratings Group at Standard & Poor’s.

In support of the effort to enhance Toronto’s position as a leading international financial centre, Shawn is a founding board member of the Mayor’s Toronto Financial Services Alliance. He served on the federal Deputy Minister of Finance’s Steering Committee on the Reform of the Supervisory and Deposit Insurance System. He is a member of the Board of Directors and the Independent Review Committee of the Third Canadian General Investment Trust Limited (a TSX-publicly traded mutual fund company). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Soulpepper Theatre Company and previously served as Board Director of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Institute of Contemporary Culture. He is Co-Chair of the Capital Campaign for the Evergreen Brick Works redevelopment. He and his wife, Petra, are co-founders of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company.

Shawn received his B.Com. from Queen’s University and his M.B.A. in finance and management from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.