The OLIP interns recently had the pleasure of hosting Alex Phillips and Jeremy McKenzie from CIBC. Ms. Phillips is the Director of North American Government Relations and Public Policy, and Mr. McKenzie is the Senior Manager of Government Relations and Public Policy. The interns were very pleased to hear about their career paths, seeing as both of our guests play such a significant role in CIBC’s government relations work. It is very interesting to hear how different experiences in politics, the public service, and the private sector have led to careers in government relations and gives us a lot to consider when we look ahead to our own careers.
As one of the largest banks in the country, CIBC’s government relations work is quite extensive. It was enlightening to hear about how Ms. Phillips and Mr. McKenzie work with their teams to engage with the various levels of government to advocate on behalf of CIBC. Their perspective on this advocacy was that they are working on behalf of Canadians, many of whom are CIBC clients. When they succeed in advocating for CIBC’s goals, they are succeeding for their clients – not just for the company. This perspective was one that we hadn’t heard before, which gave us a different viewpoint on the impact of government relations work.
Thank you to Alex Phillips and Jeremy McKenzie for joining us, and to CIBC for your support of OLIP.
