Mark Mullins has been appointed executive director of The Fraser Institute, effective September 1.

The Institute’s outgoing executive director and co-founder, Dr. Michael Walker, will become president of the newly established Fraser Institute Foundation and a senior research fellow.

In his new role, Mullins will be responsible for managing a staff of 50, and 23 senior research fellows located in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto and will provide direction to an expanding research program. He will communicate the results of the Institute’s work to the public, and will build on the Institute’s relationships with other think tanks and researchers around the world.

Mullins has been director of Ontario Policy Studies in the Ontario office of the Institute since 2003. Most recently, he served as president of MSG Hedge Corp., a privately owned consulting firm, and was senior vp and chief economist at Midland Walwyn Capital Inc., a Toronto-based investment dealer.

Mullins brings extensive applied policy experience to his new role at the Institute, having served in past years as economic and fiscal policy advisor to the Canadian Alliance Party, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

He has an MA from the University of Western Ontario and a Ph.D from the London School of Economics. He has written extensively on subjects such as Canadian tax reform, health policy, competitiveness, and stock market and investment issues. He is also a regular media commentator.