Kim Campbell is a former Prime Minister of Canada. She served in 1993, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
Previously, she had served as Minister for Indian Affairs, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defense, and Minister of Veterans’ Affairs.
After becoming leader of the Progressive Conservatives and Prime Minister, she implemented radical changes to the structure of the government. This included the redesign of 8 ministries and the abolition or merging of 15 others. Additionally, Mrs. Campbell consolidated more services for the Canadian people by creating three new ministries: Health, Canadian Heritage, and Public Security. Throughout her career, Mrs. Campbell has been deeply engaged in international issues including law reform and criminal justice, international trade (her signature appears on the NAFTA side deals) and security (both as Minister of Defense and Prime Minister; as Justice Minister she served on the War Cabinet during the First Gulf War).
After her tenure as Prime Minister, Mrs. Campbell was a fellow at the Institute of Politics (1994) and the Joan Shorenstein Center for the Study of Press and Politics (1994-1995), at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The following year, she was appointed the Canadian Consul General in Los Angeles (1996-2000), and then returned to Harvard to teach at the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School, between 2001 and 2004. In 2016, Mrs. Campbell was named Chairperson of the Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments, a role that she reprised in the fall of 2017. Mrs. Campbell’s most notable achievement in recent years is the design and launch of a ground-breaking leadership program for undergraduates at the University of Alberta called the Peter Lougheed Leadership College. She served as its Founding Principal from the spring of 2014 through June of 2018.
She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of women of significant and diverse achievement, serving as its president (2003-2005) and receiving induction into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 2008. Campbell is a member and chair emerita of the Council of Women World Leaders (1999-2003). Prime Minister. Campbell is also a founding member of the World Leadership Alliance-Club of Madrid. She is a trustee of the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College.
