and Social Indicators
Presenter Biographies
Presenter Biographies
Heinz-Herbert Noll, Ph.D.
Dr. Noll (E-mail: noll@zuma-mannheim.de) is the Director of the Social Indicators Department of the Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA) in Mannheim, Germany. He is also the President of the Social Indicators Section within the German Sociological Association and teaches sociology at the universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim. He received his doctorate from the University of Mannheim in 1981.
Dr. Noll's main fields of research are social indicators, social reporting and quality of life research, social inequality as well as trends of social change in international comparison. His recent publications include: Recent Social Trends in West Germany 1960 - 1990 (1992); Social Statistics and Social Reporting in and for Europe (1994); and, Social Indicators Research: Social Monitoring and Social Reporting (1994) which examines the international experience with social indicators.
Ms. Stein is Multnomah County Chair/Chief Executive in the state of Oregon, U.S.A. She was previously a state legislator and involved in the development of the Oregon Benchmarks. Today, she serves as co-chair of the Portland/Multinomah Progress Board, a body established to identify and monitor community benchmarks and an extensive set of long-term community goals. In public life, she has established three priorities in her work: children and families, public safety and good government. She received a BA in Urban Studies from the University of California in 1970 and a Law Degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1976.
Ms. Stein has served on a number of task forces and advisory committees and boards. Among these activities, she was appointed by U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich to his Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government through Labor-Management Cooperation, and she serves on the board of the Alliance for Redesigning Government, a project of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Dr. Nilson has been the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Activity Studies at the University of Regina since 1992. He is also a member of the Board of the Prairie Regional Health Promotional Centre, and was the Chair of the Saskatchewan Health Council until earlier this year. His research interests currently focus on health determinants and social policy. Dr. Nilson received his Master's from Southern Connecticut University in 1978, and his Ph.D from the University of Oregon in 1984.
Ms. Yalnizyan has been Program Director at the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto since 1987 where she conducts research on labour market trends and policy changes affecting Metro residents. She is the author of several publications for the Council on restructuring the job market, labour adjustment and training programs, and the transformation of social security. Most recently, Ms. Yalnizyan has been developing different models of community auditing to monitor and track the impacts of cutbacks in human service delivery on communities and local economies. She is the past Chair of the Employment and Economy Committee of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and has served on the Federal Advisory Group on Issues of Working Time and the Distribution of Work. She received her B.A. in Economics from York University in 1983, and her Master's in Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto in 1985.
Mr. Messinger is currently the Assistant Director, National Accounts Branch with Statistics Canada. In this capacity, he is responsible for the development of composite social and economic indicators, and the development of interprovincial trade statistics. He was previously the Assistant Director, Income Security, Policy Branch at Health and Welfare Canada, and a senior economist with the Economic Council of Canada. He completed his graduate studies in economics at York University in Toronto.
Mr. Sauvé is a Senior Analyst, System of National Accounts, with Statistics Canada. He is involved in the development of composite social and economic indicators and interprovincial trade statistics. He was previously a consultant for the Yukon Territory on federal-provincial fiscal arrangements, and Chief, Public Institutions Division at Statistics Canada, where he was responsible for government statistics on national and provincial accounts as well as the financial management system. He studied Economics and Business at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Dr. Paquet studied economics at Laval, Queen's and at the University of California where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics. He taught at Carleton University for 18 years (and was Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the 1970s) and then at the University of Ottawa (where he was Dean of the Faculty of Administration in the 1980s). He has authored/co-authored or edited some twenty books and written a large number of papers and chapters in books. Dr. Paquet is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Society of Arts of London, and a Member of the Order of Canada. He received the Award of Excellence in Research of the University of Ottawa in 1993. Since 1978, he has been a regular commentator on national radio and television. He is an editorial writer for the Ottawa newspaper, Le Droit.
Karen Stanford
Dr. Stanford is the Executive Director of the Florida Commission on Government Accountability to the People (GAP). The Commission publishes The Florida Benchmarks Report, a set of social, economic and environmental indicators which reflect the well-being of the state's citizens. Dr. Stanford previously taught public budgeting and research design at the University of Wyoming, and served in several capacities with the Florida state government. She has a Ph.D and M.A. in Public Budgeting and Financial Management from Florida State University.
Denise Avard Dr. Avard is the Executive Director of the Canadian Institute of Child Health. She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary, and a part-time lecturer at the University of Ottawa in Women's Studies. Her primary interests are maternal child health and monitoring the health needs of children and youth. She was responsible for the 1994 report The Health of Canada's Children - A CICH Profile. Dr. Avard completed her doctorate at the University of Cambridge, England, and has a Master's in Sociology and an undergraduate degree in Nursing.
Shirley Hoy
Ms. Hoy is the Commissioner of Metro Community Services for Metro Toronto. She was previously the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) for the Ontario Women's Directorate; ADM for Social Assistance Reform, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Ontario; and ADM of Operations, Ministry of Housing and CEO of the Ontario Housing Corporation. Prior to this, she spent 11 years in Metro Toronto government, serving in a number of capacities. Ms. Hoy has a Master of Public Administration from Queen's University and a Master of Social Work (Social Policy) from the University of Toronto.
Mr. McCracken is the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Informetrica Ltd. He often serves as a senior economic advisor to government agencies, corporations and associations. His areas of expertise include current and long-term economic policy, energy policy, economic forecasting and the use of quantitative methods in economic analysis. His outside activities include participation in the Statistics Canada National Accounts Advisory Group, the Campaign for Open Government and the Canadian Employment Research Forum. He is Past-President and Honorary Member of the Canadian Association for Business Economics and Past-Chair of the Conference of Business Economics in the United States. Mr. McCracken studied economics, completing a Master's degree and doctoral level course work at Southern Methodist University in Dallas,Texas.