Biographical notes

Daniel Ahmad (BSc Hons [Geology], McGill University, 1992; DEA [Paleontology], University of Paris, 1993; MBA, Yale University, 2004) served the United Nations as a humanitarian affairs officer in Kenya, Congo, Ecuador and New York from 1996 to 2002. From 2004 to 2008, he worked in operations finance in industry in the United States and Canada. He joined the Government of Canada in 2008, serving in the Privy Council Office in fiscal and economic policy until 2015. He then served Infrastructure Canada as director in the Program Operations Branch from 2015 to 2017. He joined Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in 2017, where he was director of strategic planning and reporting, Operations Sector. He has been an international elections observer on 11 assignments in Bosnia, Russia, Ukraine, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Anderson Blanc (BA Hons, [Business Administration], University of Quebec in Montréal, 2002; MA [Business Administration], Laval University, 2015) worked in delinquency intervention before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003. At Headquarters, he served as senior adviser and acting deputy director in the Haiti and Dominican Republic Division (Policy and Trade) and the Regional Offices and Intergovernmental Relations Division (Policy and Trade). More recently, he was deputy director of the Anti-racism Secretariat, which reports directly to the associate deputy minister of foreign affairs. Overseas, he has served as second secretary and trade commissioner in Thailand. Most recently, he was counsellor (commercial) and senior regional trade commissioner in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Senegal.

Ambra Dickie (BA [Political Science], Simon Fraser University, 2004; International Program Diploma Hons [Political Science], Sciences Po (Paris), 2003; MA [Political Science], Dalhousie University, 2005) joined Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in 2006. During her time at Headquarters, she has served as departmental spokesperson in the Media Relations Office and in the Afghanistan Task Force and as senior adviser in the Defence and Security Relations Division. Abroad, she has been posted in Brasilia, and her most recent overseas assignment was in Tokyo.

Emmanuel Kamarianakis (BComm, University of Calgary, 1993) joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1993. In Ottawa, Mr. Kamarianakis was a foreign and defence policy analyst in the Privy Council Office from 2006 to 2008 with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean and was chief of staff to the deputy minister of international trade from 2008 to 2010. He has served abroad in Mexico as counsellor (commercial), in Greece as senior trade commissioner, in Iran as third and second secretary (commercial) and in Rome as minister-counsellor (commercial) at the Canadian embassy. He was also consul general of Canada in Dubai from 2015 to 2018. Mr. Kamarianakis was most recently director general of investment, innovation and education at Global Affairs Canada’s Headquarters.

Tarik Ali Khan (BA [English], University of Toronto, 1991; MSc [International Rural Development Planning], University of Guelph, 1998) joined Canadian Heritage in 1999 and the Canadian International Development Agency (now part of Global Affairs Canada) in 2005. At Headquarters, his positions have included director, democratic institutions and conflict, director of the Haiti Development Program, director general for pan-African affairs, director general for West and Central Africa, director general for Central America and the Caribbean, and executive director to the deputy minister of international development. He has held diplomatic postings abroad as counsellor, director of cooperation, in China (2008 to 2010) and in Colombia (2012 to 2016).

Stefanie McCollum (BA [Business Administration], Argosy University, 2008) worked at National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of Secretary of State, Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency before joining Foreign Affairs Canada in 2005. She served abroad in San Francisco, Cairo, Bucharest and São Paulo before returning to Ottawa in 2016. She then worked as the director of the Emergency Watch and Response Centre. In 2017, she added the role of director of management and consular officer (MCO) renewal, supporting Global Affairs Canada’s community of MCO foreign service professionals. In 2018, she was appointed Canada’s ambassador to Qatar.

Marie-Geneviève Mounier (BA [Fine Arts], Concordia University, 1982; MA [International Administration], University of Public Administration, 2000) joined Global Affairs Canada in 2021 as Canada’s commissioner general at Expo 2020 Dubai. Previously, Ms. Mounier held the position of associate secretary to the governor general, in which she headed, among other things, the development of the program and visits in Canada and abroad. From 2008 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2018, she was assistant deputy minister at Canadian Heritage, where she oversaw large-scale projects, including the production of major events marking the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the Pan American and Parapan American Games in Toronto, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver and the government’s participation in the Olympic Games in Beijing, Rio de Janeiro and Pyeongchang. From 2010 to 2015, as the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, she led policy development and the government’s participation in various international forums, such as the International Labour Organization.

Stephen Potter (BA Hons [International Development], University of Guelph, 1991; MSc [International Rural Development Planning], University of Guelph, 1994) joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 1994. During his time at Headquarters, he has managed development assistance programming across 4 continents and served as director of international assistance policy coordination. Positions overseas include Lima (1999 to 2002), Tegucigalpa (2002 to 2004), Dar es Salaam (2005 to 2008) and Kyiv (2012 to 2015), where he served as counsellor and head of development cooperation. His most recent assignment was as executive director of innovative finance programs.

Brian Szwarc (BComm Hons, University of Manitoba, 1999; MBA, Kennesaw State University, 2008) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1999. At Headquarters, he served as director of consular case management and consecutively in the Europe, Arctic, Middle East and Maghreb Branch as director of strategic planning and coherence and as director of integration. He served abroad as counsellor and consul general in Moscow, counsellor and consul in Tel Aviv, counsellor and consul in Almaty, counsellor and consul in Kabul, first secretary and consul in Kyiv and second secretary and vice-consul in Bucharest. Most recently, he was director general of consular operations (2019 to 2022).

Nadia Theodore (BA Hons and MA [Political Science], Carleton University; LLB, University of London) began her public service career at the Canada Revenue Agency in 2000. She subsequently worked with the Department of the Solicitor General, and she joined International Trade Canada in 2004. At Headquarters, she has served as director of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, director of the Secretariat for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and chief of staff to the deputy minister of international trade. Abroad, she served at the permanent mission in Geneva from 2009 to 2012 and as consul general in Atlanta from 2017 to 2020. Most recently, she worked as a senior vice president at Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian consumer packaged goods company and the world’s first major carbon neutral food company. 

Eva Yu (BBA, Simon Fraser University, 2000; MPA, Harvard University, 2012) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2001. At Headquarters, she was deputy director in the Mission Operations (Policies and Innovation) Division (2014 to 2015). Her first overseas assignment was as second secretary and vice-consul in Mexico (2003 to 2005). She then served as counsellor and consul in China (2005 to 2008), in Hungary (2008 to 2011) and in South Korea (2012 to 2014) and as counsellor and consul general in Russia (2016 to 2018). Most recently, she was posted to the United States as counsellor and consul (2018 to 2022).