Brian Colton

Brian Colton

Brian Colton had a successful 32-year career with both the federal government and the government of Ontario, where he was well known and highly regarded for his skills and knowledge, both within and outside of government. He has a strong track record and reputation as a “confident leader and facilitator, a strong team builder, and mentor who can reach across organizational boundaries to get things done”.  He is the recipient of numerous federal government (departmental and national) awards for his teamwork, and project development.

Brian’s federal experience was with Industry Canada, Health Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the National Research Council (NRC), focusing on S&T/emerging technologies (biotechnology, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology) primarily in the health, and food sectors involving federal and provincial departments and agencies, academia and industry stakeholders.

Brian also co-led numerous interdepartmental future-focused projects, especially at the NRC where he was the Manager/Senior Analyst of the S&T Outlook/Foresight office for six years, supporting over ten major projects.  He was the Project Lead for NRC’s 2-day TechX 2018/19 conference, bringing together over 200 researchers, and other staff, as well as external partners, to highlight NRC’s research strengths and collaborations. He retired from the NRC in August 2019.

Brian’s provincial career included providing clinical and community based developmental supports and services to adults and children with developmental disabilities, and autism. He co-led a 7-year research investigation on community-based support services.

Brian studied at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Guelph, Carleton University, and Concordia University, focused on the areas of developmental psychobiology, neuropharmacology, and biochemistry. Brian also studied business administration and supervision management at the Canadian School of Management/Oxford-Brookes University (UK), and Algonquin College. He completed foresight training programs with the University of Ottawa, and Houston, and is trained in Advanced Facilitation skills.