Professor Alan Shepard is Western University’s eleventh President.
Inspired by his own experience as a first-generation student, he is committed to an inclusive model of education and a multidisciplinary approach to research focused on the public good and solving global challenges.
Shepard’s senior leadership experience includes terms as provost at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and as president and vice-chancellor at Montreal’s Concordia University. He is currently a member of the governing council of The Association of Commonwealth Universities and was chair of the Council of Ontario Universities from 2022-2024.
He is a past chair of the Canadian Knowledge Resource Network, and a past vice-chair of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. He has served numerous organizations devoted to the arts, health care, philanthropy, and business in Montreal, Toronto, London, and the USA.
He studied at Cambridge as a visiting student, received a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and holds a doctorate from the University of Virginia.