Canadian Statistics Advisory Council

Chairperson, Dr. Howard Ramos

Chairperson

Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Western University

Dr. Howard Ramos is the Chair of the Department of Sociology at Western University and Professor. He investigates issues of social justice and social change and has published five books and over 50 articles and chapters on social movements, human rights, Indigenous issues, environmental advocacy, urban change, economic and tourism development, technology, ethnicity, race, immigration, and equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education. Dr. Ramos has worked with a wide range of advocacy and community organizations and is committed to knowledge translation and evidence-based policy.

Annette Hester

CSAC Member

Head of TheHesterView Inc.

Annette Hester heads TheHesterView Inc. and focuses on new approaches to working with data. She collaborates with leading experts in their field to deliver excellence in data structuring and in data visualization.

Ms. Hester was a faculty member of the University of Calgary Haskayne Global Energy EMBA, served as a senior advisor to the Deputy Minister of the Government of Alberta and was part of the policy team for the leadership campaign of Alberta's Premier, Alison Redford, Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Ms. Hester has extensive experience as a consultant for leading oil, gas, and energy companies in North and Latin America, and to governmental agencies in several countries of the Americas, primarily Brazil and Canada.

Ms. Hester has a master's degree in economics and has written for a variety of multilateral institutions, academic publications and think tanks.

Benoit Dostie

CSAC Member

Professor at the Department of applied economics of HEC Montréal

Benoit Dostie is a full professor at the Department of applied economics of HEC Montréal, the business school affiliated with l’Université de Montréal. He is also the academic director of the Québec inter-University Centre for Social Statistics (QICSS) and member of the board of the Canadian Research Data Center Network (CRDCN). He is a Fellow at the Institute for the study of labor (IZA) in Germany and Fellow at CIRANO where he is the main researcher for the theme Innovation and Digital Transformation and is in charge of the CIRANO Pole on the Socio-economic Impacts of Digital Innovation and AI.

He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University in 2001, and his research interests include statistical models for linked employer-employee data, duration models, returns to human capital, firm-sponsored training, productivity, turnover, and labour reallocation. His work has appeared in numerous scientific journals like the Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Econometrics, ILR Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Journal of Human Capital, Journal of Human Resources, and the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics.

David Chaundy

CSAC Member

President and CEO, Atlantic Economic Council

David Chaundy was appointed President and CEO of the Atlantic Economic Council in November 2018 after serving for many years as an economist and director of research. Mr. Chaundy has directed research projects on a wide variety of topics, including international trade and global value chains, international investment, immigration and labour market issues, interprovincial regulatory trade barriers, and policies to promote clean growth and the expansion of clean technology firms in Atlantic Canada.

Mr. Chaundy is a member of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council and the National Stakeholder Advisory Panel for the Labour Market Information Council. He is Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Business Economics, a Director and Past President of the Atlantic Association of Applied Economists and a Director of the Atlantic Canada Economics Association. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Cambridge and a M.Sc. in economics from the University of York (England).

Jan Kestle

CSAC Member

President and CEO, Environics Analytics

President and CEO of Environics Analytics (EA), Jan Kestle is a leader in the marketing information industry. Over the years, she's helped hundreds of customers—in areas ranging from finance and retail to the not-for-profit sector—turn data and analytics into insight, strategy and engagement. Prior to founding EA in 2003, Ms. Kestle was president of Compusearch, a pioneer private sector distributor of Statistics Canada data.

Ms. Kestle's past experience includes being the statistical focal point for Ontario at the Ontario Statistical Centre and a member of the Federal-Provincial Statistics Council. She was a member of the National Statistics Council and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Marketing Association, the Dean's Advisory Council of the Ted Rogers School of Management, the Canadian Council of Innovators and the Advisory Board of Ryerson University School of Geography. A frequent conference speaker, she is the recipient of a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from the University of Western Ontario.