President & Chief Executive Officer

Giles Gherson

President and Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Region Board of Trade

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Giles Gherson serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, among North America's largest and most influential business organizations. In this role, Giles leads the Board's initiatives to strengthen and sustain business growth and competitiveness across the Toronto region, one of the fastest-growing metropolitan centres in North America.

Giles is dedicated to addressing the region’s most pressing challenges, including the widening productivity gap, the ongoing congestion crisis, and barriers to greater regional investment. At the same time, he champions Toronto’s vibrant growth and its role as a global leader in AI, data hubs and the diversity of its business sector. Under his leadership, the Board established the CEO-led Business Council of Toronto to tackle critical issues, with a strategic focus on Advanced Manufacturing, Climate and Energy Transition, the GTA West Economic Gateway, and the Financial Services sector.

Prior to joining the Board in 2022, Giles spent over 25 years in the private and public sector in progressively senior roles. He spent 15 years with the Province of Ontario, where he held multiple influential Deputy Minister roles – most extensively and recently as Deputy Minister, Economic Development. Previously, Giles has led the government’s economic growth and competitiveness policy, overseen the recent creation of two new agencies, Invest Ontario and IP Ontario, and worked to attract a wave of technology and manufacturing investments, including the retooling of the province’s auto sector for next generation battery electric vehicles. He currently sits on Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Council, working to boost the long-term competitiveness and resilience of this sector by attracting key investments and creating opportunities for businesses across the province.

Prior to his role in government, Giles worked as editor-in-chief of the Toronto Star, political editor of the National Post and editor of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. Giles is the immediate past President of the Board of Directors at the Institute of Public Administration of Canada, the country’s leading professional organization supporting excellence in the public sector.

Hi, I'm Giles Gherson, the new President and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade. It's an incredible honor to step into this leadership role to work on behalf of Toronto's vibrant and dynamic business community. And what a community it is, having helped build Toronto into the fourth-largest city in North America and the only mega-city in Canada. Our region generates fully 20% of the country's GDP. Our success is Canada's success. We play an out-sized role in driving its prosperity, and thanks to our unrivaled diversity, our potential is unmatched. Rich diversity in our people and also in our economy. Toronto region is not dominated by a single industry or sector, so as new global markets emerge, we have the opportunity to not only gain a foothold, but to lead across multiple sectors, from financial and business services to advanced manufacturing, life sciences, tech, construction and development, and more.

This is a pivotal moment, defined by constant disruptive change. At the Toronto Region Board of Trade, we vigorously embrace that change and the exciting opportunities it brings. At the same time, we will remain true to our 178-year tradition and proactively and productively convening, connecting, and championing on behalf of our members and the region's business community. That will remain at the heart of everything we do.

But I'm excited to introduce new ways for us to come together to dismantle some of the barriers holding us back and to tap into the strengths that will propel us forward. I look forward to working with our members, stakeholders, and governments at all levels, to build a stronger, more productive economic engine for Toronto Region, one able to propel us to greater prosperity for all of our residents. We have a tremendous year ahead, full of thought-provoking events, networking, and new opportunities to influence the future of our economy. I hope you'll join us as we strive to make the Toronto region one of the most competitive and sought after business regions in the world.