Corporate Team

Matthew McKean Chief R&D Officer

Matthew McKean is BHER's Chief R&D Officer. He is a member of BHER’s executive team and oversees the organization's diverse and growing member-driven research, programming, and thought leadership agendas. 

Areas of focus are all things skills and talent, but especially strengthening alignment between business + higher education and building talent pipelines for Canada’s priority sectors. 

Matthew has authored, co-authored, and directed hundreds of research deliverables, from infographics, briefings, and reports to podcasts, presentations, and op-eds. He writes, speaks publicly, and is a regular commentator and contributor to media. His writing has appeared in The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, The Ottawa Citizen, The Hill Times, The Conversation (Canada), This Magazine, Exclaim!, and most recently The Hub. 

Prior to joining BHER, Matthew led the Conference Board of Canada’s multi-year Skills and Post-Secondary Education (SPSE) research and convening initiative and the Council of University Executives (CUE), a pan-Canadian network of Provosts and Vice-Presidents. He was also a founding member of the consortium that was selected in 2019 to set up and run the Future Skills Centre (FSC), a multi-year initiative funded by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills program. 

Matthew holds a PhD in History from Queen's University, Kingston, and is an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, where he taught for many years. He was a board member of the Ottawa International Writers Festival; a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Education; and is currently on the National Advisory Committee for People for Education.