Dr. H. Ian Macdonald served as COL's Chairman from January 1994 to April 2003, when Lewis Perinbam was named Chair of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) on April 28, 2003.
Dr. Macdonald has had a distinguished career in academia and government, having been a professor of economics and chief government economist early in his career and then serving the Canadian Province of Ontario as Deputy Minister of Treasury, Economics, and Intergovernmental Affairs. In 1974, he was named President of York University, a position he held for more than ten years, following which he served as Director of York International for another ten years. He is now President Emeritus and Professor of Economics and Public Policy at York University and Director of the Master of Public Administration Program.
He earned a B.Com. from the University of Toronto and a B.Phil and MA from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, The Open University in the UK, the Open University of Sri Lanka and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (India).
Dr. Macdonald is a director of several Canadian and international companies, associations and institutions, including a current appointment as Chairman of the Board of McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, a leading educational and trade book publisher. In September 2000, her was awarded the Vanier Medal for Public Service.
He chaired the COL Board of Governors from 1 January 1994, having succeeded COL's founding Chairman, the Right Honourable Lord Briggs (Asa Briggs).
