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Jim Farrell

Jim Farrell

Vice-Chair
Forest Sector Consultant
Ottawa, ON
Since retiring from the federal government as Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, in January 2011, Mr. Farrell has worked in an advisory capacity with a number of organizations including the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), FPInnovations, Genome-BC and Genome Quebec. In 2012, as Executive Director of the Forest Products Sector Council he led a transition with FPAC that created a forest industry recruitment branding program.

As Assistant Deputy Minister, Mr. Farrell was the Government of Canada’s senior executive responsible for the forest sector which included: the Canadian Forest Service with a staff complement of over 850 people across Canada and annual budgets of up to $800 million. Responsibilities included: international market development; investments in forest sector innovation and demonstration of novel technologies; green transformation of Canada’s pulp sector; forest economics and policy analysis; and, a national program of biological research including forest sustainability, pest and fire management, forest genomics and climate change impacts and adaptation.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Farrell was Director General of the Policy, Economics and Industry Branch, where he was responsible for domestic and international forest policy, economic analysis, industry and market access issues, overseas market development and industry research partnerships. Before moving to Ottawa in 1997, Mr. Farrell was Director of Development at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste Marie and Senior Officer for the Canadian Forest Service in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and worked in the private sector with Abitibi Paper Company (currently Resolute) in Manitoba and northern Ontario.

Mr. Farrell is currently Canada’s representative on the Board of Directors of the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities headquartered in Greenville, NC and is chair of the audit committee. He is also a former Board member of Forintek Corporation, PAPRICAN, FPInnovations, the Ontario Forestry Association and the Forest History Society.

Mr. Farrell graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. He resides in Ottawa with his wife, Janet. They have three children.