Fulbright Canada Board Chair Daniel McCarthy is pleased to welcome four new members to its Board of Directors. The Board provides leadership and oversight with respect to Fulbright Canada’s mission to identify the best and brightest minds in both the United States and Canada and engage them in residential academic exchange.
David L. Cohen, U.S. Ambassador to Canada
Before his appointment by President Biden and unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David L. Cohen served as Senior Advisor to the CEO at Comcast Corporation as of January 1, 2020. He was previously Senior Executive Vice President at Comcast, where his portfolio included corporate communications, legal affairs, government and regulatory affairs, public affairs, corporate administration, corporate real estate and security, and community impact. Cohen also served as the company’s first chief diversity officer.
Before starting with Comcast in July 2002, Cohen served as a partner in and Chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the country. From January 1992 to April 1997, Cohen served as Chief of Staff to the Honorable Edward G. Rendell, the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia.
Cohen served on many nonprofit boards, including as chair of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and its Executive Committee; as a member of the trustee board and the executive committee of Penn Medicine; as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; as chair of the Philadelphia Theatre Company; as a member of the Board of the National Urban League; and as chair of the corporate board of advisors of UnidosUS. Cohen also serves as a member of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. He also served on the board of directors of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and PNC Bank, National Association.
A native of New York, Cohen graduated with a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1977 and with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School summa cum laude in 1981. Cohen has received numerous honors and recognitions, including Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Prior to his appointment to Ottawa, he lived in Philadelphia with his wife.
Christina Higgins - Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, US Embassy
Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Christina Higgins joined the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa in August 2021. Previously, she served as Chargé d’affaires a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti, working closely on counter-terrorism efforts with military colleagues stationed at Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent U.S. military installation in Africa. In the field of public affairs, she supported U.S. embassies throughout Europe as the U.S. Department of State acting Director for Public Affairs in Europe and Eurasia and U.S. embassies in Africa as the Director for African Affairs in the former Bureau of International Information Programs. She has served in various public affairs roles in Germany, France, Angola, Senegal and Jerusalem.
Prior to joining the U.S. diplomatic corps, she worked at the U.S. Department of Education and in public schools teaching teenagers about the joys of learning French, and German.
Christina has a Master’s degree in National Security Studies from the National Defense University’s National War College in Washington D.C. and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, New York. She is a proud badger of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She speaks fluent German, French, and Swedish. Along with her work duties, Christina stays busy raising her three sons.
Kathryn McCain, President McCain Family Foundation
A native of Florenceville, NB, and a proud graduate of the University of New Brunswick with a BA in Sociology, Kathryn McCain has made a career out of volunteering and service. She has had the privileged of serving on several not-for-profit boards. Most notably, she was Chair of the McCain Foundation, the philanthropic arm of McCain foods, for 20 years. The Foundation focused its attention on Atlantic Canada and those places in Canada where the company has factories.
She also spent 20 years at The University of New Brunswick serving on the Board of Governors. Through those years, she chaired several committees, including Advancement, Audit, Finance, and Nominating and Review, and ultimately served as Chair of the Board of Governors for three years. In 2019, she was named Governor Emerita (2017) and awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters.
Additionally, she has served on the board of The Nature Conservancy of Canada and on the board of Pathways to Education, where she was a founding member. The Pathways program supports disadvantaged youth who need help succeeding in high school and finding a path to postsecondary education. The program now operates in several disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Canada.
She graduated with the designation of Chartered Director (C. Dir.) from the Directors College and is currently a Governor of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Chair of the Advancement Committee. In 2008 she was elected a Fellow of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and received the Captain Joseph-Elzear Bernier Medal for exemplary deeds.
She is deeply honoured to have received the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal, in 2012.
Penny Wilson, Tech Entrepreneur
Penny R. Wilson has over 30 years of experience in senior marketing and executive leadership roles in finance and the global technology industry. Her previous positions include Chief Marketing Officer at Hootsuite, Chief Marketing Officer at Juniper Networks, Chief Marketing Officer at Macromedia, President at Alias|Wavefront, and Vice President at Merrill Lynch.
Ms. Wilson is an experienced board member and adviser providing valued strategic perspective to numerous public, private, nonprofit, and industry organizations. Ms. Wilson continues to pursue her passion for lifelong learning, mentoring early-stage companies, and helping to inspire individuals to be the innovators, change-makers, and leaders of tomorrow.
Ms. Wilson graduated summa cum laude with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Business Administration from the University of Guelph.
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