Biographical notes – Diplomatic appointments

Andrea Clements (BA, Bowling Green State University; MA [Political Science and International Affairs], Carleton University) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2001. She has worked in various positions at Headquarters, including director of the High Intensity Services Division, director of the Aerospace, Automotive and Defence Practice and trade policy officer in the Services Trade Policy Division. She has also served as head of office and trade commissioner at the Trade Commissioner Service’s regional office in Windsor. Her experience overseas includes senior trade commissioner at the embassies in Washington (2022 to 2026) and Tokyo (2014 to 2018); trade commissioner in the Republic of Korea (2011 to 2014); and consul at the Consulate in Fukuoka (2004 to 2007). 

The Honourable Kamal Khera (BSc [Nursing], York University) was first elected as member of Parliament for Brampton West in 2015, becoming one of the youngest women to be elected to Canada’s Parliament. She was re-elected in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. She has served as minister of seniors, minister of diversity, inclusion and persons with disabilities and minister of health. She has also served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of international development, the minister of national revenue and the minister of health. Before entering politics, she worked as a registered nurse in the oncology unit at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, she volunteered at a long-term care facility in her hometown of Brampton and administered vaccines in her community.

Claire Kennedy (BASc [Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry], University of Toronto, 1989; LLB, Queen’s University, 1994; Hons LLD, University of Toronto, 2023) was appointed to the Bank of Canada’s Board of Directors (2012 to 2025) and served as its lead director (2018 to 2025). Ms. Kennedy served as senior tax partner at Bennett Jones LLP before becoming senior adviser, Clients and Industries, where she supported the firm’s strategic growth initiatives. Ms. Kennedy currently serves as director and chair of the Audit Committee of Alamos Gold Inc., as well as a director of Constellation Software Inc. and of CDL Global. She served as chair of the Board at Neo Performance Materials Inc. (2020 to 2025). Ms. Kennedy also served on the University of Toronto’s Governing Council (2012 to 2021), including four years as chair.

Susannah Pierce (BA, The George Washington University; MA, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University) was president and country chair at Shell Canada Limited, where she was responsible for integrating and coordinating business investment and operational performance across Shell’s lines of business in Canada. Prior to this role, Ms. Pierce was Shell Canada’s vice president of emerging energy solutions and director of corporate affairs for LNG Canada, a joint venture of Shell, Petronas, Mitsubishi Corporation, PetroChina and Korea Gas Corporation. Ms. Pierce has served on various for-profit and non-profit boards, and she currently serves on the boards of the Vancouver General Hospital and University of British Columbia Hospital Foundation, Wilder Institute and Calgary Zoo. She recently joined the Advisory Board of Catalyst Canada and currently serves as chair of the Business Council of British Columbia, co-chair of the Business Council of Canada Working Group on Climate Change and Energy Transition, co-chair of the Business Council of Alberta’s Define the Decade initiative and co-chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Western Executive Council.