Jenni Byrne

Byrne was born to Jerry and Julie Byrne in 1976 in Fenelon Falls, Ontario.[3] Her mother was a teacher, who died in 2010 at the age of 58. Her father is a carpenter who joined the Reform Party in the 1990s to protest the long-gun registry enacted as part of the Firearms Act, 1995, introduced by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Her sister, Jerra Kosick (nee Byrne), is also involved with the Conservative Party of Canada, most recently serving as the chief of staff to Minister Michelle Rempel.

Byrne is not married and does not have children.

Byrne was a nursing student at Georgian College, but did not graduate.[3] She later attended the University of Ottawa, where she organized campus clubs for the Reform Party of Canada and did not graduate.

In 2009, she became the Director of Political Operations for the Conservative Party of Canada following the appointment of Doug Finley to the Senate of Canada.[6]

Byrne was the deputy national campaign manager in the 2006, 2008, and 2011 federal elections, serving under Doug Finley. Between elections, Byrne served in several roles in the Prime Minister's Office, including advisor to Chief of Staff Ian Brodie and Director of Issues Management, and at the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada.

In the 2011 campaign she was promoted to national campaign manager due to the ill health of Doug Finley. She served as campaign manager of the machine designed and largely still run by Finley, taking the pressure off him to allow his pursuit of cancer treatment. Byrne's responsibilities were overseeing the day-to-day operations of Finley’s campaign, what The Hill Times called "one the most efficient, richest, and iron-disciplined campaign machines in Canadian political history."[7]

In August 2013, Byrne left her job as the Conservative Director of Political Operations and returned to the Prime Minister's Office as co-Deputy Chief of Staff.

In October 2014 the Conservative Party announced that Byrne would lead the campaign in the 42nd Canadian federal election.[4] Shortly before the election, Byrne was reported to have left the Conservative Party's campaign office in Ottawa and returned to Calgary.[8] The Conservative government lost power to the Liberals, who won a majority of the seats. After the election, a number of Conservatives blamed Byrne for her role in the party's defeat and criticized her management style.[9][10][11] Byrne's contract expired after the election.[11][12]

Following Doug Ford's election as leader of the Ontario PC Party in March 2018, Byrne took over as Director of Field Operations for the 2018 Provincial Election. After the election, Byrne was selected to be Ford's first Principal Secretary.[13] In January 2019 she left the Premier’s office to accept an appointment to the Ontario energy board.[14] In February 2020 she launched Jenni Byrne + Associates, a government relations firm based in Toronto. [15]