Richard Florizone

Florizone was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1968. He attended University of Saskatchewan, where, in 1990, he earned a Bachelor's degree in engineering physics and, in 1992, a Master's degree in physics. He then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology where, in 1998, he earned a PhD in physics. In 2013, he was appointed the President of Dalhousie University. During his time in that position, Dalhousie faced multiple scandals, including an incident of the spreading of explicit messages among male dental students, some of which included fellow female students. The led to a report of a culture of "sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism" within the dental faculty at the university. Before working at Dalhousie University, he had worked at Bombardier Aerospace, Boston Consulting Group, University of Cambridge, the International Finance Corporation, and University of Saskatchewan. In 2018, he announced that he was stepping down as President of Dalhousie University, and in 2019, he began as the Director of the Quantum Valley Ideas Lab at the University of Waterloo. In January, 2020, he began as the President and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]