David A. Dodge

Dodge, David A.

David A. Dodge, economist, academic, civil servant (b at Toronto, Ont June 1943). Other than the BANK OF CANADA's first governor, Graham F. TOWERS, David Dodge is the only governor not to have been previously employed at the bank before being appointed to its top position. With an undergraduate economics degree from Queen's University and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University, he joined the federal government in 1972 as a Finance Department research officer. By 1976, he had risen to the position of Director General of Economic Research at the newly created ANTI-INFLATION BOARD. Following a return to academe in 1977 as a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, he rejoined Canada's civil service in 1980. As deputy minister in the Finance Department, Dodge, together with the then-minister Paul MARTIN, was credited with bringing government spending under control in the mid-1990s.

Dodge, the Bank of Canada's seventh governor, was appointed December 2000 to a seven-year term that began on 1 February 2001, moving on from the Department of Health, where he had served as its deputy minister. His appointment was not without controversy, due to his status as a bank outsider and also as a result of his reputation for being outspoken and direct. During his term, Dodge won praise and drew criticism alike for his attempts to foster debate and understanding among Canadians about their economy.

In October 2007, Dodge was appointed the Order of Canada as an Officer. Following his retirement from the Bank of Canada in 2008, he joined the law firm Bennett Jones LLP as a Senior Advisor and, later that same year, was elected Chancellor of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.