OTTAWA, Canada – Carleton University’s Board of Governors is pleased to announce the appointment of Nik Nanos as board chair and Dan Fortin as vice-chair. The appointments are for a one-year term from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 – and are eligible for a one-year renewal.

Nik Nanos is the chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research, one of Canada’s most distinguished research companies. Nanos is a leading corporate business strategist who conducts market and public opinion research and provides counsel to diverse organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and non-profit groups. A regular commentator and writer on economic, social and business trends, he provides insight on the latest forces reshaping the world.

“I admire Carleton because it’s a dynamic university that delivers a positively transformational academic and personal experience to its students,” said Nanos. “I am looking forward to supporting and working with the exceptional students, academics, staff and executive team led by our new president, Benoit-Antoine Bacon.  Our school was founded by passionate community leaders and I am proud to follow in the tradition of being a community-at-large member of the board and being called to serve as the volunteer chair.”

Prior to retirement, Fortin was president of IBM Canada Ltd. He began his IBM career in 1978, and over the years has held a number of global roles, including general manager of IBM’s global distribution sector. Fortin is active on many boards and associations, including Economical Insurance of Canada and was former chair of World Vision Canada. He is an alumnus of Carleton, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering, and received an honorary doctorate in June 2009.

“Carleton continues to grow its importance and relevance as part of Canada’s leadership in global research and academic excellence,” said Fortin. “It is an exciting time to be able to contribute to the university. It is a privilege to continue to serve on the board, and an honour to be the vice-chair for the coming term.”

About Carleton

Located in the nation’s capital, Carleton University is a dynamic research and teaching institution with a tradition of leading change. Its internationally recognized faculty, staff and researchers provide more than 30,000 full-and part-time students from every province and more than 100 countries around the world with academic opportunities in more than 65 programs of study, including public affairs, journalism, film studies, engineering, high technology, and international studies.

Carleton’s creative, interdisciplinary and international approach to research has led to many significant discoveries and creative works in science and technology, business, governance, public policy and the arts. As an innovative institution, Carleton is uniquely committed to developing solutions to real-world problems by pushing the boundaries of knowledge and understanding daily.

Nik Nanos

The son of Greek immigrants, Nik Nanos is Chief Data Scientist and Founder of the Nanos Research Group of Companies.  He leads Nanos Research, one of Canada’s most distinguished research companies, which he founded in 1987.

The Nanos Research Group of Companies includes Signal Leadership Communications, a social public relations firm specializing in issues and image management in a digitally disrupted era. It also includes Nanos-dimap Analytika, an analytics and targeting research practice that is a joint venture with dimap, one of Germany’s top research organizations. Nik also leads the team behind the Nanos Bloomberg Canadian Confidence Index which monitors consumer confidence in the Canadian economy and streams data to Bloomberg terminals each week.

He is a community-at-large board member and, as a volunteer, serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Carleton University. Prior to becoming the Chair, Nik was the Vice-Chair and served on the Community Relations and Advancement Committee, Finance Committee, Audit Committee, HR Compensation Committee, Building Committee, Governance Committee and Nominating Committee for the Board.

Nik has an interest in advancing and supporting journalism. He has championed the G. Stuart Adam Award in Journalism, which gives outstanding Master of Journalism students at Carleton the means to go out into the field, across Canada or abroad, to produce their capstone Master’s Research Projects. He is a regular supporter of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, which works to defend and protect the right to free expression in Canada and around the world. Nik is a past chair of the Government of Ontario’s Constable Joe Macdonald Public Safety Officers Survivors’ Scholarship Fund, which assists the families of police and public safety officers killed in the line of duty with the costs of post-secondary education. He also currently volunteers as Honorary Captain (N) in the Royal Canadian Navy assigned to the Navy Reserve Division HMCS Carleton (no relation to the university).

Nik has undergraduate degrees in history and political studies and a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University in Canada. His training includes PhD level studies in quantitative methods at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He is a Research Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Nik has also been elected a Fellow of the MRIA (FMRIA), the highest professional designation in the marketing research industry in Canada and holds a Certified Management Consulting (CMC) designation.

Nik is a leading corporate business strategist, conducting market and public opinion research and providing counsel to diverse organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and non-profit groups. A data scientist, speaker, commentator and author on economic, social, consumer and business trends, he is a sought-after resource for insight on the latest forces reshaping the world.

His book, The Age of Voter Rage: Trump, Trudeau, Farage, Corbyn & Macron – The tyranny of small numbers, explores how the marginalized and the margins are rewiring democracy through populist style politics, small swings in voter sentiment and computational propaganda. The Age of Voter Rage was recently named a top 10 non-fiction bestseller among independent publishers in the United States.

Nik is the father of four boys and married to Paule Labbe.

He has been elected as Chair of the Board of Governors for a one-year term – July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 – and is eligible for a one-year renewal.