Carmen Sylvain

Carmen Sylvain has 30 + years of experience in foreign affairs, trade, investment, and innovation with time in the public and private sectors.  She is currently a board member of PAREX Resources, the Egyptian Refining Company, and LCI Education. Ms. Sylvain has expertise in strategic planning, risk management, geopolitical risk, cybersecurity, stakeholder engagement, environmental and social governance, corporate governance, and government and foreign relations.  

She served as Canada’s Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Mauritania.  Within the Canadian government, she held positions in the Privy Council Office, Departments of Communications, Canadian Heritage, and Foreign Affairs and International Trade. She served as Assistant Deputy Minister Strategic Policy and Planning, Assistant Deputy Minister for Europe, Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Director General for the European Union. She led the development of a Foreign Policy Plan for Canada, a departmental transformation, as well as commercial strategies for Europe, Africa, and the MENA. Ms. Sylvain served as President of the Bureau of International Exhibitions Executive Commission and developed Canada’s pavilions at three World Fairs.  In the private sector, she was Strategic Advisor to the QG100 business network as well as to the OMERS pension fund. 

She served on the advisory boards of the Centre for International Governance and Innovation and the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Ms. Sylvain has lived and worked in Germany, Portugal, Morocco and Colombia. She currently resides in Montreal. 

Ms. Sylvain was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Bureau of International Exhibitions; the Orden de San Carlos Gran Cruz from the Republic of Colombia; and l’Ordre Ouissam Alaouite Commandeur from the Kingdom of Morocco.