Assistant professor of economics and business at West Virginia University.

Assistant professor of economics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Jean Michaud is a registered Professional Engineer and holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Polytechnique as well as an MBA from McGill University. He has worked in finance for over 30 years—mainly as Commodity Trader and Portfolio Manager—at major firms such as Alcan, Barclays, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec where he managed the commodity portfolio which reached C$3 billion. Jean has co-written many articles on energy, CO2, and carbon taxes, published in major Canadian newspapers. He is also a regular speaker at investment conferences across Canada.

Mohamed Moutii is a research associate with the Arab Center for Research and a research fellow at the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues (IREFeurope), where he analyzes economic policies and their impact on society. In addition, he is Co-founder and Senior Managing Editor of Wonderlustmag, a project that works to defend the ideals and principles of freedom and provides an ever-growing source of knowledge, including essays and articles on the free market, liberty, private property, and the ethics of peace and non-aggression.

Guillaume Pelegrin is a partner at Fasken. His practice covers all aspects of public and administrative law. He helps his clients achieve compliance in complex regulatory environments, assists them in obtaining permits and authorizations, and represents them in litigation before all levels of court in civil, administrative, criminal, and expropriation matters. His practice focuses mainly on environmental, municipal, constitutional, access to information, and transportation issues for businesses in the natural resources, shared economy, waste management, transportation, and real estate sectors. 

Jason Dean is an Assistant Professor of Economics at King’s University College at Western Ontario. He is an applied economist with academic publications in areas such immigration, housing, economic history, and health economics. He has over ten years experience teaching economics at various Canadian institutions, and at universities in China. He completed a BBA at Wilfrid Laurier University, an MA in Economics from the University of Guelph, and a PhD in Economics from McGill University.

David Salerno is the Founder and President of Solpak Packaging Solutions, a leading meal packaging and transport solutions provider.  Solpak caters to nationwide non-profit, governmental, retail and food services organizations with eco-friendly and all-in-one packaging systems. Before founding Solpak, he operated a Student Painter Franchise and then managed different teams at Canadian Facts, a national marketing research firm, as well as at Microcell Solutions (Fido).

He also is a mentor, coach, and the author of the book The Sherpa Method, 9 Steps to Business Freedom, based on a method he developed while growing his seven-figure self-managed business. His recent start-up, Entrepreneur Sherpa, helps fellow entrepreneur colleagues attain Entrepreneurial Freedom.

David is an active board member of the MEI and a past member of boards for organizations such as Aecopaq and the Sailing Club of Two-Mountains. He also is the Head Mentor at Réseaux, a partner of Réseau Mentorat in the greater Montreal area. Individual liberty and entrepreneurship are the focus of his interest in all his activities. David studied Science and Human Affairs and Business Management at Concordia University. He is happily married and the proud father of two amazing kids.

Magatte Wade is a serial entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and visionary business leader with a passion for creating positive change in Africa. She is the founder and CEO of SkinIsSkin.com, “the lip balm with a mission,” and is dedicated to reducing racial discrimination while creating jobs and prosperity in her home country of Senegal.

Throughout her career, she has created successful high-end retail brands inspired by diverse African traditions. She is a Forbes “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa,” a World Economic Forum at Davos “Young Global Leader,” a TED Global Africa Fellow, and a Global Wellness Summit “Leading Woman in Wellness” award winner.

Ms. Wade serves as the Director of the Atlas Network’s Center for African Prosperity. She is a member of the board of Directors of Conscious Capitalism Inc. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Whole Foods Market’s Whole Planet Foundation. She has written for The Guardian, HuffingtonPost.com, and Barron’s, and has been profiled by The New York Times. She has spoken at numerous high-profile venues including the U.N., The Clinton Global Initiative, the Aspen Institute, TED, Conscious Capitalism, Capitalism, and many dozens of universities including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, UC Berkeley, Dartmouth, and the Wharton School of Business.

Renaud’s specialty is popularization. On a daily basis, he helps make the work of the Institute’s research staff accessible to the general public. This involves editing opinion pieces for clarity, helping to write press releases, and ensuring the language used in publications and media interventions remains accurate, while being understandable without an advanced economics degree.

He also handles the Institute’s communications strategy, bringing together new, legacy, and social media plans in order for its publications to reach the largest possible audiences.

Renaud holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the École des sciences de la gestion at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Throughout his career, he has worked in communications and media relations for large non-partisan advocacy organizations.

When he’s not working, Renaud is an avid cook, a cinephile, and a whisky afficionado, with a marked preference for the peaty stuff coming from the Isle of Islay (Scotland).

Emmanuelle holds a master’s degree in applied economics from HEC Montréal. In her thesis, she evaluated the impact of air pollution on the productivity of office workers. She received several bursaries and prizes throughout her university career for academic excellence.

During her studies and her professional career, Emmanuelle has worked on public policy topics such as the impact of Quebec’s electric vehicle purchase subsidy on consumers in the province, and the impact of the Quebec parental insurance plan on the decisions of fathers to take parental leave or not. Among her hobbies, she loves playing board games with family or friends. She joined the MEI team in September 2022.