Lorne Johnson

Lorne has 25 years of experience in forging collaborative solutions to sustainability challenges in Canada. He has established a reputation as someone who brings enthusiasm, a knack for funding common ground and a solid dose of pragmatism while getting things done.

Early in his career, Lorne played a leadership role in establishing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Canada including facilitating voluntary standards negotiations with the sector and its stakeholders, serving as the board chair, and stepping in as Acting Executive Director while overseeing an overhaul of the organization’s business strategy and revenue model.

During his ten-year term with WWF-Canada (1998 and 2007), Lorne established and led partnerships with several national forest products companies that included a three-year secondment to Tembec Inc.. In his latter years with WWF, Lorne headed up the organization’s federal government relations efforts as their Ottawa Bureau Director focusing primarily on climate change and oceans conservation.

Lorne has served in a variety of governance roles including sitting on the boards and/or councils of the Clean Economy Fund, the Cornerstone Standards Council, the Concrete Council of Canada, Efficiency Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. He has headed up a number of organizations over the years including FSC Canada, Cornerstone Standards Council and the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement Secretariat.

In addition to being a Vice-President at Ivey Foundation, Lorne serves as an advisor to the granting program of the Schad Foundation. He lives in Ottawa with his wife, Nathalie Chalifour, and two children. He is an avid painter, angler, hunter and paddler and has aspirations of spending less time on conference calls and more time outdoors. Lorne has a Master of Science in Forestry (economics) from the University of Toronto and Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Lorne’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorne-johnson-852a4086/