Ray Ivany’s professional career has been distinguished by his interest in two things: post-secondary education and public policy.
Ray graduated from University College of Cape Breton and East Tennessee State University, followed by a research fellowship at Harvard. He worked in Nova Scotia’s college and university system for more than 35 years.
At the University College of Cape Breton, Ray led the development of the university’s first strategic plan. As President and CEO, Ray reinvented the Nova Scotia Community College (NSSC) spearheading a $123-million campus modernization.
As President of Acadia University, he reconnected the university with the values and culture that has made it one of Canada’s best for nearly 180 years.
Ray’s extensive experience with private and public sector boards and organizations led to an appointment by the premier of Nova Scotia to chair a landmark economic commission. The resulting report issued in 2014, Now or Never: An Urgent Call to Action for Nova Scotians, has become the economic development blueprint for the province.
Ray has received numerous awards and distinctions, including:
Maclean’s Honour Roll of Ten Canadians Who Made a Difference in 2004
Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO Hall of Fame in 2011
Halifax Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year in 2015 and 2016
Canada’s Public Policy Forum Leadership Award
Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures CEO of Broader Public Sector
I met Ray in the library of the beautiful K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia…
