Short Bio

Dr. Chris Bart, FCPA, is Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Governance at McMaster University and founder of The Directors College of Canada, where he served as inaugural Principal and Lead Professor. He also co-founded the Caribbean Governance Training Institute and Caribbean Institute of Directors. His board service spans corporate, healthcare, educational and community organizations, including vice-chair and governance, audit, compensation and nominating committee roles. An author of eight published books, with two additional books in progress, and more than 190 articles, cases and reviews, he was named a Top 50 Governance Professional by the U.S. National Association of Corporate Directors in 2024.

Detailed Bio

Voluntary work with CPA Ontario or other professional bodies:

Dr. Bart’s service to the accounting profession spans its predecessor and unified bodies. It has included membership on the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Vision Task Force and its Control and Corporate Governance Board, judging the CICA Awards in Corporate Disclosure, Corporate Governance category, serving as Chief Judge of CPA Alberta’s Governance Case Competition, and acting as an expert adviser to Management Accountants of Canada on its management accounting guideline – Becoming a Time-Based Competitor. He also authored two editions of CICA’s Twenty Questions Directors Should Ask About Strategy.

Career achievements:

Dr. Bart is a Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Governance at McMaster University and founder of The Directors College of Canada, where he served for ten years as inaugural Principal and Lead Professor. He later co-founded the Caribbean Governance Training Institute and the Caribbean Institute of Directors and now serves as Chairman Emeritus of both. Through these institutions, he helped create and deliver director education in strategy, governance, audit, risk, human resources and compensation oversight. He is also founder and CEO of Corporate Missions Inc. and Bart & Company Inc.

Other professional accomplishments:

Dr. Bart has authored eight books (plus two forthcoming) and more than 190 articles, cases and reviews on governance, strategy, organizational mission, innovation and performance. His research includes board involvement in strategy, board-level IT governance, audit committee charters, executive compensation and board effectiveness. He is a founding Associate Editor of the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics and has lectured internationally across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Caribbean. A Tale of Two Employees was a Canadian business bestseller for ten consecutive years. In 2024, the U.S. National Association of Corporate Directors named him a Top 50 Governance Professional.

Other voluntary service and recognition:

Dr. Bart’s board service has included:

• Terra Firma Capital Corporation, where he served on the Audit Committee and chaired the Governance, Compensation and Nominating Committee
• Canadian Training Institute, where he served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Governance Committee
• St. Joseph’s Hospital
• United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton
• Canadian Foundation for Education and Research on Finance
• Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc.
• Eagle Precision Technologies
• LGBTQ Bill 7 Awards Scholarship Committee

Recognition includes:

• CPA Ontario Fellow (FCPA)
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to Canada
• Ontario Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Award for Corporate Governance
• HRPA Summit Award for Corporate Governance and Strategic Leadership
• United Way Chairman’s Award
• McMaster University awards for teaching, research, innovation and translating theory into practice

Candidate statement

Why are you interested in joining Council?

As an FCPA, Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Governance, founder of The Directors College of Canada, and an experienced corporate and not-for-profit director, I have spent my career helping organizations answer three fundamental questions: Why do we exist? What strategic choices must we make? How will the board hold management accountable for delivering them? I am seeking election to CPA Ontario’s Council because the profession must now answer those same questions for itself.

My research on mission statements has taught me that organizations rarely fail because their aspirations are too modest. They fail because priorities become blurred, difficult choices are postponed and accountability for results is unclear. CPA Ontario cannot afford those failures while technology, regulatory complexity, changing workplace expectations and a shrinking talent pipeline are reshaping the profession.

The central issue is not simply whether the profession must change. It is how it can change without compromising the judgment, integrity and public accountability on which its legitimacy depends.

I would bring governance experience, strategic discipline, business judgment and a lifelong commitment to professional and director education. I would also bring an independent voice – constructively supportive of management, but willing to test assumptions, ask difficult questions and insist that good intentions be translated into measurable results.

How do your experiences align with the following skills, attributes and experiences that have been prioritized for incoming members of Council?

• Strategic and Transformational Leadership
• Emerging Technologies
• Board Experience and Governance
• Business Acumen

Three parts of my experience align especially closely with Council’s priorities.

First, I have built and led organizations through significant change. I founded The Directors College of Canada and served for ten years as its inaugural Principal and Lead Professor, helping create a new model of university-based director education. I also co-founded two Caribbean governance organizations. These were not theoretical exercises. They required a clear mission, a credible strategy, strong partnerships, disciplined execution and the ability to turn an idea into a sustainable institution. That experience reflects strategic and transformational leadership as well as business acumen.

Second, I bring extensive board and committee experience. I have served on corporate, healthcare, educational, charitable and community boards, including as a vice-chair, governance committee chair, and chair or member of audit, compensation and nominating committees. My responsibilities have included strategy, executive oversight, succession, fiduciary duties, board effectiveness, stakeholder accountability and organizational performance. I have also written extensively for directors on the questions boards should ask before approving strategy and how boards can oversee its execution. I understand both the authority of a board and the discipline required not to drift into management.

Third, I bring a governance perspective to emerging technologies. I helped establish McMaster University's Management of Innovation and New Technology Research Centre and served as its first Director. My published research includes how boards oversee information technology – its strategic value, its risks, and management's accountability for both. From this perspective, I would help Council answer the questions that matter before new technologies are adopted: What problem are we solving? What value will be created? What assumptions are being made? What risks to privacy, cybersecurity, ethics and public confidence must be addressed? Where must professional judgment and human accountability remain? Technology should strengthen the profession's capabilities, not dilute its responsibilities.

What is the greatest opportunity and challenge facing the accounting profession and CPA Ontario?

The greatest opportunity is to redefine the CPA’s value in a world where routine work is increasingly automated. CPAs can become even more important as interpreters of complex information, advisers on strategic choices, stewards of organizational trust and guardians of accountability. CPA Ontario can help make that future real by ensuring that education, professional development and regulation evolve together.

The greatest challenge is sustainability. The profession cannot indefinitely ask fewer people to shoulder more complexity. Regulatory demands are increasing, expectations are expanding, experienced professionals are retiring, and younger people have more career choices than ever. To attract and retain exceptional people, the profession must offer not only a respected designation, but meaningful work, relevant skills, credible career pathways and a professional culture people want to join and remain in.

CPA Ontario must therefore keep four commitments in balance: protect the public, strengthen the profession, modernize responsibly and remain accountable for results. Council should not merely approve a strategy, it should know what success looks like, how it will be measured and who is accountable for delivering it. If elected, I would bring experience, independence and a mission-driven approach to helping Council do exactly that.