
Throughout his career, John Beveridge has focused on the business side of sustainability, contributing to the advancement of innovative technology and business practices to address environmental challenges while also supporting the competitiveness of Canadian businesses.
John began his professional career in an academic setting, coordinating the applied research program of the former Institute for Northern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. There he managed studies into the socioeconomic impact of proposed large scale northern resource development projects, including hydroelectric development and uranium mining, at a time when methodologies for such research were still in their infancy. John subsequently co-founded a consulting company and continued to conduct innovative work in this field for a range of industry and government clients, including Gulf Minerals Canada, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, and Sask Power. Direct community involvement in the research and planning process, especially by Indigenous communities, was an important (and at that time, unique) focus for the company.
In 1984 John was recruited by the federal Industry department (now Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) to apply this experience to federal economic development policy and programs. After moving to Vancouver, he became the department’s environmental sector specialist for British Columbia. Over the next 20 years, he helped plan and implement strategic programming focused not only on strengthening the emerging environmental industry sector, but on facilitating broader industry innovations in such as areas as pollution prevention, green building design, and climate change mitigation. Internationally, as the federal lead for Canadian environment sector trade activities in the Asia region, he coordinated numerous trade missions to Japan, China, India and other Asian countries.
In the lead-up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, John accepted a special assignment with Environment Canada as Director of its Sustainability Division, a Vancouver-based team responsible for developing and coordinating the comprehensive range of interdepartmental federal sustainability initiatives that supported the Vancouver Organizing Committee achieve what the International Olympic Committee recognized as “the most sustainable Olympic Games ever held.”
John has always placed a high value on collaboration – with other government departments and agencies, industry associations, academia and community groups – to achieve real-world project results not otherwise possible. This project collaboration led directly to the formation of the not-for-profit EcoSmart Foundation, which John co-founded with similarly-minded colleagues as a means to carry out more complex collaborative projects in the increasingly important area of climate change. He has been actively involved in EcoSmart over its 20-year history, serving on the Board of Directors since his retirement from the federal public service in 2010.