Maureen O’Neil is President and CEO of the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (as of Sept 1, 2008). Ms O'Neil was also President of the of the International Development Research Centre from April 1997, to June, 2008.  Previous positions also include Interim President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, President of the North-South Institute, and Deputy Minister of Citizenship for the Government of Ontario.

Ms O’Neil is a member of the International Board of Governors of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and chair of the Advisory Council on Corporate Social Responsibility of Canada’s Export Development Corporation.  She is also a Fellow of the School of Policy Studies of Queen’s University.  She has been a member and/or Chair of numerous Boards, including:  the Board of Governors of Carleton University (Chair); the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA); the Policy Advisory Group of the UK Department for International Development; the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut; the Markle Foundation’s Global Digital Opportunity Initiative; the World Economic Forum’s Digital Divide Supervisory Committee (co-chair); the Advisory Board to the Minister of Foreign Affairs; the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Chair); the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (Chair); and the Institute for Women, Law and Development.  She has also represented Canada on the UN Commission on the Status of Women and on OECD committees, and has been a member of the UN Committee for Development Planning and the Board of the UN Research Institute for Social Development.

Ms. O’Neil has a BA in Sociology from Carleton University and Honorary LLDs from Carleton University and Wilfrid Laurier University.