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Reappointment of Professor Alex Mihailidis as Associate Vice-President, International Partnership & Appointment of Professor David Wolfe as Acting Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships

From: Joe Wong, Vice-President, International
Leah Cowen, Vice-President, Research and Innovation and Strategic Initiatives
Date: June 18, 2024
Re: Reappointment of Professor Alex Mihailidis as Associate Vice-President, International Partnership & Appointment of Professor David Wolfe as Acting Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships

We are delighted to announce that the Executive Committee of the Governing Council has approved the reappointment of Professor Alex Mihailidis for a second five-year term as Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships (AVP, IP), effective July 1, 2025 following his ten month administrative leave.

In order to ensure continued leadership during Professor Mihailidis’ administrative leave, we are also very pleased to announce that Professor David Wolfe is appointed as Acting Associate Vice-President International Partnerships. David Wolfe is a Professor Emeritus (as of the end of June) in Political Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Co-Director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

The Associate Vice-President provides leadership on a number of important files that reflect the ongoing importance accorded by the university to the goal of internationalization, including: 

leading in the development of partnerships with international institutions, with a focus on research and entrepreneurship partnerships; leading the development of corporate sponsored research agreements, and development of consortia arrangements; supporting the continued promotion of the GTA globally as an innovation ecosystem in which to invest; and leading the Research Security Team to develop risk assessments and support for researchers to safeguard their research and comply with funders’ research security requirements. 

The Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships is a member of both the Vice-President, International’s and Vice-President, Research and Innovation and Strategic Initiatives’ Executive teams and works closely with other VPRI and VPI colleagues, University Advancement, Government Relations and Divisional leadership amongst others.  

During Professor Mihailidis’s first term from September 1, 2019 to August 31 2024, he has led a number of significant initiatives which have positioned the university globally and facilitated strategic partnership development including:

  • The development and implementation of the BlueDoor, to support potential corporate partners identify their needs and connect them directly with a specific person within the university system based on those needs. Tracked outcomes for the BlueDoor to date total $19.3M over 27 distinct projects.
  • Diversification of academic and corporate partnerships, including forging new collaborations with institutions in diverse global regions, including Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia.
  • Development and implementation of Research Security Processes and team to strengthening due diligence and documentation of foreign partnerships.

David Wolfe was the Royal Bank Chair in Public and Economic Policy from 2009–2014. His research interests include the political economy of technological change and the role of local and regional economic development. From 2014 to 2019, he was lead investigator on the Creating Digital Opportunity Partnership (CDO) SSHRC-funded project, studying how Canada can respond to the challenge posed by a rapidly changing digital landscape, while benefiting from emerging opportunities to promote our economic prosperity. He is the editor or co-editor of ten books and more than fifty scholarly articles. His most recent volume is Growing Urban Economies, published by University of Toronto Press.  Professor Wolfe holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from Carleton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto