Dominic Barton

Dominic Barton (born 1962), known as Bao Damin (鲍达民) in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat.

He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments as well as the chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

Dominic Barton was born in Mukono, Uganda in 1962.

Barton's father was an Anglican missionary who helped develop a theology college in Uganda; his mother was a nurse.

In his childhood, his family's house was occupied by general and future dictator Idi Amin, who was rising to power in Uganda at the time.

At age seven his family moved from Uganda to Canada, eventually settling in the community of Sardis, British Columbia.

Barton attended the University of British Columbia, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics.

He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Brasenose College at Oxford University, where he received an MPhil degree in Economics.

After graduating, Barton worked briefly as a currency analyst for N M Rothschild & Sons in London.

In 1986 he was hired by McKinsey & Company to work in the company's Toronto office and worked from that office as a management consultant for eleven years.

In 1997 Barton moved to the McKinsey office in Seoul, where he eventually led McKinsey's national practice.

During Barton's tenure in South Korea, McKinsey worked with the South Korean government to restructure the country's financial system aiming to foster a 'creative economy'.

He was Chairman for McKinsey in Asia from 2004 to 2009, operating out of Shanghai.

He co-authored a book that provided insights into ordinary Chinese citizens and their way of life, China Vignettes – An Inside Look At China.

He has been an adjunct professor at Beijing's Tsinghua University and served on the School of Economics and Management's advisory board.

Barton also chaired the Seoul International Business Advisory Council for six years and was a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board's International Advisory Council for ten years.

Prior to this, Barton was the Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, from 2009 to 2018 and has previously served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden.

In April 2022 Barton was appointed as Chairman of the Management Board of LeapFrog Investments, a private investment firm that invests in high-growth, emerging markets, with a focus on social and environmental impact.

Barton became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rio Tinto, the world's second largest metals and mining corporation, on May 5, 2022.

In October 2022 the Eurasia Group announced the appointment of Barton as a Strategic Counselor.

Barton earned his Master of Philosophy in Economics at Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar and has advised Canadian governments, both Liberal and Conservative, on public sector transformation and economic growth.

Barton was elected to the position of Global Managing Director, a role that he served in from 2009 to 2018.

After this role, Barton became Global Managing Director Emeritus for a year while accepting a broader range of philanthropic and advisory positions.

In July 2009 he was elected to the position of Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, based on a vote of 400 senior partners.

During Barton's time as Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Co between 2009 and 2018, the firm was embroiled in several scandals, e.g. - South Africa, Valeant, Insider trading by its investment affiliate, and association with several authoritarian regimes around the world.

Since leaving McKinsey & Co, the firm has faced scrutiny over work McKinsey did for Purdue Pharma to improve its opioid sales, which contributed to the opioid epidemic.

Barton served on the Canadian Advisory Committee on the Public Service under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Barton was one of several Canadian business leaders that advised the Prime Minister on the renewal and development of the country's public service.

He was re-elected to a second three-year term in 2012 and a third term in 2015, serving the maximum three terms at the head of the global firm.

In 2013 and 2016 Glassdoor ranked Barton as one of the top CEOs globally, based on employee choice.

Barton served as chair of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, the Canadian federal government's blue-chip panel, starting in 2017.

The council outlined 13 recommendations, including the creation of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the launch of a re-skilling program for the Canadian workforce, the formulation of growth strategies for sectors with untapped potential, including agriculture, and the development of the Invest in Canada hub.

The Council set a goal of lifting "the median household's income to $105,000 in 2030".

It was about $80,000 in 2017.

The Council also called for a gradual increase in permanent immigration to Canada to 450,000 people a year.

From 2018 to 2019 he was chairman of natural resources giant Teck, one of the largest exporters of steel-making coal in the world.

He was replaced by Kevin Sneader in 2018.

McKinsey was ranked as the number one consulting firm in the world for nine consecutive years during Barton's leadership.

He served as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2019 to 2021.

One employee resigned from McKinsey because of the increased work McKinsey did with Teck in that year, including projects titled "Coal Processing Optimization" and "Drill and Blast. On September 5, 2019, he was appointed as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.