John Parisella joined NATIONAL’s Montreal office on January 23, 2017. He serves as Senior Advisor, Strategy and Outreach. Most recently, he was Managing Director of the major fundraising campaign for HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and Université de Montréal (Campus Montréal) and was involved in the campaign during the transition period. The campaign was a huge success, raising $601 million (against a target of $500 million).
John is a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Montreal. He is also associated with the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, a centre for American studies, which is based at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERIUM). He has also taught at Concordia University’s Department of Political Science and at the John Molson School of Business.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Port of Montreal, Montreal International, Youth Fusion, the Old Brewery Mission, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) and is also co-chair of the Fondation de la langue française. In the past, he has served on the Boards of Governors of Concordia University (1996-2005), the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, the Office régional de la santé du Grand Montréal and the Conseil des Relations internationales de Montréal (CORIM) (2014-2019).
John is also an author. In November 2015, he published La politique dans la peau on diversity, integration and his years in Quebec politics. Author of several publications and speakersin numerous forums, he is also co-author of the book Elections: Made in USA (published in 2004 and 2008) and was a regular blogger for America’s Quarterly (2010-2015). From 2008 to 2013, he was also a blogger on American politics for Macleans magazine. He serves as a political analyst for several media outlets across the country. He currently analyzes American politics for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is a regular contributor to La Presse, a French-language daily. Recently, he was a consultant for the documentary television series Fièvre politique, broadcast on Télé-Québec, which deals with former political leaders and their reflections on political life. This documentary series won a Gemini award. Most recently (October 2019), John collaborated on an autobiography entitled Lino Saputo, Entrepreneur ̶ Living our Dreams.
A graduate of McGill University in political science, education and management, and of Concordia University in political science, John Parisella holds a certificate in senior public management from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Throughout his career, he has worked in education, politics, community development, marketing and advertising, diplomacy, philanthropy, and business and government relations consulting. He began his career as a high school teacher with the Montreal School Board (1969-1980).
His political involvement led him to play several roles, including regional director of the Quebec Liberal Party (1980-1981), then director general of that party (1985-1988), chief of staff to Premiers Robert Bourassa (1989-1994) and Daniel Johnson (1994), and advisor to Premier Jean Charest (2007-2008).
Also very active in the business world, John was Vice President of BCP, a Montreal-based marketing and advertising firm, from 1994 to 1999, before becoming President from 1999 to 2009. In addition, he was President of BCP Consultants, a firm specializing in reputation and crisis management. In addition to his work for BCP, he served as a strategic advisor to the President and Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at Concordia University from 2006 to 2009. In 2008-2009, he was the chief negotiator for the Government of Quebec in the dispute with the Mohawks of Kahnawake over land along Highway 30.
From 2009 to 2012, he served as Quebec’s Delegate General in New York and was responsible for the Washington office. In addition to his professional activities, he was a volunteer director on numerous boards in the fields of culture, education, health, community development and business.
John Parisella, speaker was made a member of the Order of Canada, in 2017, and an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, in 2016. He was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal, New York, in 2011. In 2014, he was named winner of the Top 20 de la Diversité at the Lys de la Diversité du Québec gala. The Université de Montréal awarded him the Rector’s Medal for leading its major philanthropic campaign from 2012 to 2017.
