David Paterson is Ontario’s Representative in Washington co-located at the Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington, D.C.
During his 30 years in business, he served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and served on the boards of the Canadian American Business Council, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association and the Canadian Journalism Foundation.
Prior to his Ontario appointment in November 2023, David lead Corporate & Environmental Relations for General Motors Canada and worked as part of GM’s global Public Policy and Communications team.
Between 2010 and 2014, he was Senior Vice President, Government Relations & Public Policy at BlackBerry (formerly Research In Mo on) where he led a global team responsible for regulatory engagement in 175 countries. This included trade, export controls, market access, taxa on, privacy, cyber security, patents and intellectual property, spectrum, cross border data flows, consumer protection, environment and safety.
Prior to that, in 2009 David was Senior Vice President, Public Affairs at Manulife Financial and a member of the Company Management Committee. Manulife is one of the world’s largest insurance and financial services companies including John Hancock in the US. At Manulife he was responsible for managing the company’s overall external image including media, government and community relations as well as brand management and environmental reporting.
Before joining Manulife Financial, David served his first term as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of General Motors Canada Limited where he led government relations and communication during the 2009 automotive bailout and restructuring. Between 1995 and 2002, he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Canada’s AGRA Inc. and then assumed the same role in the U.K. post merger for AMEC plc, one of Europe’s largest engineering services companies.
At the outset of his career, from 1990-95, David managed corporate and international government relations accounts at Hill and Knowlton Canada where he became Senior Vice President. Between 1986 and 1990, he worked in the Ontario Government as Executive Assistant to the Government House Leader and prior to that as Special Assistant to the Ministers of Government Services, Education, the Attorney General for Ontario and Minister responsible for Race Relations, Native Affairs and Women’s Issues.
David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University in Ontario and a Master of Arts in Canadian History from McGill University in Montreal. He is married and has one daughter.
David W. Paterson, Ontario’s Representative in Washington