John Reed is a seasoned executive with 35 years of experience across government, industry, non-governmental, and international organizations. He has significantly contributed to environmental management and sustainability, international negotiations, and performance audit and oversight programs for the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. He is known for his extensive expertise in bilateral and multilateral settings and his passion for leading people, teams, programs, and organizations.
As an expert for the Technical Assistance Partnership-Expert Deployment Mechanism (TAP-EDM) initiative, John, alongside other Canadian experts, is collaborating with the Government of Ecuador’s Office of the Comptroller General (Auditor General) to support an expanded Performance Audit practice. The initiative aims to strengthen the performance audit practice to empower the Comptroller’s office to ensure the most effective use of state resources.
John’s leadership in diverse roles reflects his commitment to promoting accountability, collaboration, and excellence across sectors. He has led initiatives to establish auditor general functions for key organizations, including the Secretariat of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, the Assembly of First Nations and the City of Vancouver.
Based in Ottawa, John was President and CEO of the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF) from 2016 to 2020 and is now a CAAF associate. He co-founded the Canadian Environmental Auditing Association and spent three years with Environment Canada as the lead staff negotiator for the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances. John holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies from York University and an Honours Bachelor’s of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo.