October 17, 2012
Ms. Lori Ridgeway is the Senior Advisor to the Associate Deputy Minister, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), in charge of Legal Risk Management, a Crown Corporation portfolio, and ongoing issues related to Arctic Vision work.
From 2009-2011, Ms. Ridgeway was the Executive Director, Arctic Strategies for DFO, where she led work on a vision, objectives and priorities for both DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard. From 2004-2009, she served as Director General, International Policy and Integration, at DFO. Ms. Ridgeway was Canada’s main international negotiator in oceans and fisheries-related multilateral and policy-related areas, and chaired many international processes and proceedings, including three years as Chair of the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, Lead Shepherd (Chair) of the Fisheries Working Group in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Chair (2000 to 2006) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Committee of Fisheries. She was also active in other intergovernmental fora (e.g., FAO Committee on Fisheries and its Trade Sub-Committee, other UN fora), and non-governmental fora (e.g., Steering Committee of the Global Oceans Forum).
Ms. Ridgeway served as Director General, Economic and Policy Analysis, DFO, from 1999 to 2004. She was Director of Operations (1997 to 1999) responsible for macroeconomic policy at the Privy Council Office, and served in various positions in the Economics and Fiscal Policy Branch at the Department of Finance (1981 to 1997). From 1991 to 1994, Ms. Ridgeway was Canada’s Finance Counsellor in its permanent delegation to the OECD in Paris. Prior to joining the federal government in 1981, she was a full-time faculty member of the Economics Department of the University of Alberta and later at University of Calgary.
Ms. Ridgeway has many publications in reputable journals and books on international oceans-related policy and governance issues.