Michael Davies

Professor: Managerial Economics B.Sc. (McGill), M.Sc. (Glasgow), MPA (Dalhousie)

Telephone: (902) 494-6772
E-Mail: Michael.Davies@dal.ca

Michael Davies’ career encompasses both federal and provincial governments as well as a diverse international background. He currently works in the Tax Policy Branch of Finance Canada, focusing on strategic policy surrounding the HST. Prior to that, he spent nearly six years with the Province of Nova Scotia, most recently as a Corporate Strategist with Nova Scotia Rural and Economic Development, specializing in innovation, R&D, productivity and trade. He was responsible for
the Province’s Early Stage Commercialization Fund, which assists university researchers in bringing projects into the marketplace.

Michael’s international experience includes seven years living and working in Scotland, as well as a stint in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He managed the economic policy research program for the Scottish Council Foundation, Scotland’s leading public policy think tank. Michael was also the founding Director of the International Centre for e-Governance, a joint initiative between the Foundation and the Council for Excellence in Government, based in Washington, DC. As well, he orchestrated the establishment of the Commission for Wave Power in Scotland, a group of members of the Scottish Parliament and business leaders that developed a plan to capitalize on Scotland’s leadership in wave power expertise and technology. He later joined Pelamis Wave Power Ltd., the largest wave power company in the world, as Finance Director, and was an integral part of PWP’s completion of a $15 million venture capital funding deal in 2002.

In addition to the federal government and the Province of Nova Scotia, Michael has also worked for the provincial government in New Brunswick, at both the Department of Finance and the Management Board Secretariat. During his time in Fredericton, he was part of the management team that created Service New Brunswick in the early 1990s – now a provincial Crown Corporation.

He has been teaching at the School of Public Administration since January 2005. As well as teaching through the MPA (M), he has also lectured extensively in the regular MPA program. His courses included the required 1st quantitative methods, micro- and macro-economics courses, as well as the 2nd elective, ‘Issues in Applied Economics’. In June 2009, he was awarded a $5,000 Teaching Excellence Award from the Faculty of Management.

Michael and his wife, Julianna, live in Barrhaven, just outside Ottawa, with their son Tristan, now 4 years old, and their daughter Laurel, who turned 2 in September.