Vice Chair of the Board
Ambassador Louise Blais was Canada’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2017-2021. She also served as Vice President on UNICEF’s Executive Board.
She is now in Atlanta promoting bilateral relations between Canada and the Southeast United States before her next post in the fall 2021.
Louise Blais began her professional career as an Art Theft Analyst at Interpol. She then managed the Development Program at the National Archives of Canada from 1992-1996 before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1996.
As a senior diplomat, she served abroad in Washington and Tokyo and as Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Paris helping coordinate Canada’s participation in the 2011 G8 in Deauville and the G20 in Cannes. During this period, she was also the Director of the Canadian Cultural Centre.
In Ottawa, at Global Affairs Canada, she held the positions of Director of the Public Diplomacy Division where she oversaw Canada’s International outreach and Executive Director of the Rotational Staff Division. Ms. Blais and her team were responsible for the deployment of over 2000 employees world-wide.
In 2014, the Minister of Foreign Affairs appointed her Consul General of Canada in Atlanta, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
She has served on numerous boards including the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington DC, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Ballet. She is an alum of the BMW Foundation’s Trans-Atlantic and World Young Leaders Forum and a member of their Global Responsible Leaders Network.
She is on the Advisory Board of the Canadian Forum for Impact Investment and she is a Distinguished John Robson Lecturer at Emory University as well as a Rotarian. She is the recipient of many honors including a Distinguished Leadership Award from the Business Council of Alabama. And a sought-after speaker on foreign affairs, women leadership and mental health.
Among her personal commitments, Ambassador Blais has been dedicated to the advancement of women entrepreneurship and has led her team to launch the first ever North America Summit of Women in Business. She is currently writing a book on the power of Feminine Leadership.
Louise Blais holds a B.A. from McGill University. She is married to Peter Falkner and together they have two sons.