Biographical notes

Alan Nymark
Deputy Minister and Chairperson, Employment Insurance Commission

Alan Nymark is the Deputy Minister and Chairperson, Employment Insurance Commission.

Mr. Nymark began his career in the Public Service in 1972 with the International Branch of the Department of Finance. He served in Washington, D.C., at the International Monetary Fund, and then returned to Canada to work in the Economic Secretariat of the Privy Council Office. In 1979 on Executive Interchange, he became special advisor to the Royal Bank of Canada.

Mr. Nymark returned to the Public Service as Assistant Secretary, then Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations. In 1983, he became Director of Policy for the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (MacDonald Commission).

Mr. Nymark was appointed in 1985 Assistant Chief Negotiator with the Trade Negotiations Office on the Canada/U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Between 1989 and 1993, he served as Executive Vice-President of Investment Canada and as Assistant Chief Negotiator for the North American Free TradeAgreement.

In 1993, Mr. Nymark was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, Industry and Science Policy at Industry Canada where he promoted a knowledge-based economy and society. Mr. Nymark was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Health Canada in 1996. In 1999 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Environment Canada. Mr. Nymark was named Commissioner of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (now the Canada Revenue Agency) on June 2, 2003, the position he held prior to being named Deputy Minister of HRSDC.

Originally from Ottawa, Mr. Nymark graduated from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario with a Masters in Economics in 1971. He continued his post-graduate studies in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He is married and has three children.