Dr. Enid Slack
Director
The Director of the Institute is Dr. Enid Slack, one of Canada's foremost experts in municipal finance. Enid has been working in this field for over 40 years and is respected nationally and internationally for her research on municipal finance and governance.
Dr. Richard M. Bird (1938-2021)
Senior Fellow
Dr. Richard M. Bird was professor emeritus in the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and Senior Fellow of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. His research interests included tax policy and administration, local and regional finance, and intergovernmental fiscal relations.
Bill Hughes
Senior Fellow
Bill Hughes is a Senior Fellow at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance. He has over 35 years of experience in finance and public policy at both the provincial and municipal levels of government. Bill’s research and policy interests include municipal financial sustainability, demographics, urban economics, the impact of planning policy on municipal finance, and the economics of water policy.
Joe Pennachetti
Senior Fellow
Joe Pennachetti is Senior Fellow at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance. He has over 35 years of municipal financial management experience. As the Toronto City Manager from 2008 to 2015, Joe was responsible for 37,000 staff, an operating budget of $12 billion, and a $30 billion 10 year capital plan.
Dr. Alexandra Flynn
Fellow
Dr. Alexandra Flynn is an Assistant Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at The University of British Columbia, where she specializes in municipal law and governance and teaches interactive, practice-based courses in legal research, municipal and planning law, and administrative law.
Dr. Aaron A. Moore
Fellow
Dr. Aaron A. Moore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, at the University of Winnipeg, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of City Planning, at the University of Manitoba. Aaron was formerly an Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo. He received his Doctorate degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario in 2009.
Dr. Zack Taylor
Fellow
Dr. Zack Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Western University, where he teaches and researches on comparative urban political economy, regional planning and governance, local government and finance, and local public administration. He is also a non-practicing Registered Professional Planner in Ontario.
Kass Forman
Manager, Programs and Research
Kass Forman is Manager of Programs and Research at IMFG. Prior to joining the Institute, he was an official at Finance Canada, where he was an economist in the federal-provincial relations division, and the OECD, where he led policy projects on inter-governmental fiscal relations and authored multiple papers and book chapters.
Stephanie Ortynsky
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Stephanie Ortynsky is the 2023-2024 Richard M. Bird Post-Doctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on the politics of municipal budgeting approaches, intergovernmental fiscal relations, and the intersection between the politics of federal immigration targets and municipal government implications.
Sean Grisdale
Graduate Fellow
Sean Grisdale is the 2023-24 IMFG Graduate Fellow in Municipal Finance and Governance. He is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. He has researched, written and published on a wide range of housing affordability issues.
Keir Matthews-Hunter
Graduate Fellow
Keir Matthews-Hunter is the 2023-24 Blanche and Sandy Van Ginkel Graduate Fellow in Municipal Finance and Governance. He is a first-year PhD student in Planning and graduate of the Master of Science in Planning program at the University of Toronto. His research interests are informed by his prior work experience as a housing planner with the City of Toronto, where he undertook assignments and advised on the development and implementation of housing policy and regulation.
Piali Roy
Administrative and Communications Assistant
Piali Roy is the Administrative and Communications Assistant at IMFG. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked in both media and communications, including the public policy program within the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy as well as the Maytree Foundation.