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Public Executive Program
4.5-Day Program

Public Executive Program

A strategic approach to the leadership and policy program challenges facing today’s public-sector executives

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Public Executive Program

About the program

This program has been developed to address the key leader-manager competencies identified by the Treasury Board of Canada and provincial and municipal public service counterparts. The program provides a unique overview of the frameworks and processes to address policy development, program planning and leadership challenges facing today’s public-sector executives.

No other program in Canada provides the same kind of exciting and intensive opportunity to interact with public-sector leaders from a wide variety of jurisdictions across Canada.

In this program you will:

  • Determine the proper scope and limits to government
  • Understand the national mood and what Canadians are currently thinking
  • Demonstrate the importance of ensuring comprehension of the impact of government decisions
  • Understand the power of the media and learn how to manage the message
  • Appreciate the options and challenges regarding renewable energy and climate change
  • Understand the challenge of social policy

Who should attend

This program is designed for public-sector managers, directors, and leaders who are looking for fresh perspectives and approaches to policy issues and leadership, in all areas of government, government agencies, and the public service.

This program is designated an approved recertification program by the HRPA.

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Available via live, in-person delivery

Attend the program in an immersive, in-person environment at the Donald Gordon Conference Centre, located in Kingston, Ontario and adjacent to the Queen's University campus.

High impact learning

Leading-edge content presented by outstanding session leaders.

You might also be interested in: Leadership and Strategic Planning and Leading Change

Discounts Available

Registered Charities

Queen’s Executive Education is pleased to offer a limited number of discounted seats in every program to employees of Canadian registered charities. Check your eligibility to receive a registered charity discount

Volume Discounts

Queen’s Executive Education is pleased to offer a 15% discount for organizations that pre-pay for five or more seats on any of our programs within a 12-month period. Check your eligibility to receive a volume discount

Digital credential for Public Executive Program

A Recognized Symbol of Excellence

Participants who complete the program earn the Public Executive Program digital badge credential.

Benefits for you and your organization

Queen's Public Executive Program is designed to enhance the strategic thinking, policy-making and decision-making skills of public-sector managers.

  • Broaden your public policy perspective by interacting with a diverse group of session leaders and public-sector executives
  • Sharpen your management and leadership skills by working with a world-class instructor team
  • Bring in new ideas from respected session leaders and fellow public-sector executives
  • Benefit from a proven executive development process used by thousands of Canadian organizations, including public-sector organizations from all levels of government and all jurisdictions in Canada
  • Learn along with federal, provincial, and municipal public-sector managers from across Canada
  • Improve performance in the most efficient way possible, at a cost much lower than that charged by consultants
  • Establish an ongoing relationship with Smith School of Business and create a culture of lifelong learning within your organization

The program focuses on:

The fundamentals of leadership excellence and program management in government

  • Review the increasing diversity of Canadian society and the changing role of government
  • Learn how to manage change in government and its impact on stakeholders
  • Challenge conventional wisdom
  • Create champions and coalitions to drive change
  • Manage resistance to change and build commitment

World issues and current affairs

  • International current affairs such as Russia and Ukraine
  • The global economy
  • Canada-U.S. relations
  • Climate change and renewable energy

Social policy

  • Inequality and social policy
  • Inequality and intergenerational social mobility
  • Social program expansion
  • The pandemic and Inequality
  • Post-pandemic social policy

The media and government

  • Understand the role of the media
  • Develop key communication points that must be delivered
  • Evaluate opportunities for delivering key messages
  • Prepare for “damage control” when issues arise

In-Person Learning

Learn alongside fellow participants from across the country, discovering best practices that span industries and sectors.

Our in-person programs include classroom learning sessions led by award-winning Smith School of Business professors and industry experts. Practice new skills in breakout sessions, projects and simulations, and apply your learning toward real-world case studies.

Queen’s Health and Safety protocols for in-person programs are evolving and may change by the program date. View the Respiratory Illness Information (COVID-19) (opens in a new tab).

Kingston - Donald Gordon Conference Centre

The Donald Gordon Conference Centre combines the amenities of a full service conference and event centre with the elegance and charm of Kingston’s historic limestone architecture.

Our conference and meeting rooms have been designed to create a comfortable and relaxed working environment, and private guest rooms offer a broad range of amenities.

Session Leaders

Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

An authority on social and economic policy issues, Keith Banting is the author of Poverty, Politics and Policy and The Welfare State and Canadian Federalism. He is an editor and co-author of another dozen books dealing with public policy, including most recently Federalism and Health Policy: A Comparative Perspective on Multi-Level Governance.   He currently holds the Queen’s Research Chair in Public Policy.  Professor Banting served as Director of the School of Policy Studies from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that appointment, he served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at Queen’s University.  In 1983-85, he was a Research Coordinator for the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.  In 1986-92, he was a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and in 1990 was elected vice-president of the Council.  In 2005, Dr. Banting was invested as a member of the Order of Canada.

Shai Dubey teaches courses in negotiations, cross-cultural management, ethics, domestic and international business law and entrepreneurship.

Shai earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Toronto and his Law Degree from Queen's University. Shai is also a graduate of the aviation Flight Technology Program at Seneca College. 

After graduating from Seneca College in 1984, he began his working career as a commercial pilot. In 1985 he founded and ran both an executive aircraft charter company and a flight training school based in Toronto. After selling this company, Shai worked as an aviation consultant providing strategic and regulatory advice to Canadian and foreign clients. He practiced law on Bay Street and then ran a global company prior to joining Queen’s.

Chantal Hébert is a national affairs columnist with The Toronto Star and a guest columnist for Le Devoir. She is also a regular contributor to the weekly “At Issue” panel on the CBC’s National News. Ms. Hébert served as parliamentary bureau chief for La Presse and Le Devoir in Ottawa, and as a political reporter for Radio-Canada. She is a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, the 2005 recipient of APEX’s Public Service Award, and the 2006 recipient of the Hyman Solomon award for excellence in journalism and public policy.

Nik Nanos is a Canadian public opinion pollster and an expert on image research and crisis communications management. In 1987 Nanos founded SES Research while he was a student at Queen's University. The company is now known as Nanos Research, a market and public opinion research firm with clients across North America. In the 2006 federal election, Nanos predicted the results to within one tenth of one percentage point for the four major parties - a record in Canadian polling history. His company is the official pollster for CTV News. In 2008, Nanos was appointed an associate professor in the Canadian studies program at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a graduate of the Queen’s Executive MBA program.

Matt Reesor is Director, Smith MBA at Queen’s University. He has held numerous administrative leadership positions since joining the School in 2011.

He has also been an Adjunct Lecturer since 2013 and has designed and taught a variety of communication-themed graduate courses and Executive Education programs.

Earlier in his career, Matt was a Lecturer at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (NUCB) where he was recipient of the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award in 2003.

He is the author of a best-selling communications textbook published by Macmillan Japan (2004).

Douglas Reid is an authority on corporate strategy, and has been widely quoted in the media. As a researcher, he specializes in inter-company alliance dynamics and large alliance evolution. Prior to joining Smith School of Business, he was vice president at Burson-Marsteller, an international consulting firm. He recently concluded six years of service as a director of Candela Energy, and is an active advisor to several companies including Bell Canada, Ontario Securities Commission, Canada Post, Shoppers Drug Mart and Royal and Sun Alliance.

A former Canadian diplomat, Mr. Robertson is Vice President and Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and hosts its regular Global Exchange podcast. He is an Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. Mr. Robertson sits on the advisory councils of the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy, Conference of Defence Associations Institute, North American Research Partnership, and the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa. He is an Honorary Captain (Royal Canadian Navy) assigned to the Strategic Communications Directorate. He is a member of the Deputy Minister of International Trade's NAFTA Advisory Council and the North American Forum. He writes on foreign affairs for The Globe and Mail and he is a frequent contributor to other media.

Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Director of the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  She is the co-author, with Eugene Lang, of the prize-winning The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate.  She is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.  Dr. Stein currently serves as Co-Chair of the International Programs Committee on the Board of Care Canada.

Upcoming Sessions

Session Date Nov 4 to 8, 2024 View detailed schedule
Location Kingston , ON , Canada Donald Gordon Conference Centre
421 Union Street
Program Fees $10,500 CAD (plus applicable taxes) What's included?
Session Date Jan 27 to 31, 2025 View detailed schedule
Location Kingston , ON , Canada Donald Gordon Conference Centre
421 Union Street
Program Fees $10,500 CAD (plus applicable taxes) What's included?
Session Date Nov 3 to 7, 2025 View detailed schedule
Location Kingston , ON , Canada Donald Gordon Conference Centre
421 Union Street
Program Fees $10,500 CAD (plus applicable taxes) What's included?

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