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Mark Entwistle draws on a rich and integrated mix
of professional experience across disciplines, and over twenty five
years, in diplomacy and negotiation, global business and international
affairs, government relations and operations, public policy issue
management, strategic communications, media relations, public affairs
and advocacy.
In the private sector for over a decade, and one of
the world’s leading experts on Cuba, he is at present President of
Chibas Consulting Inc., a specialist consultancy in strategic
business development in Cuba and global business intelligence more
generally.
Mark is also Partner at The Endeavor Group
(www.theendeavorgroup.com), where he is a member of a boutique
communications and advocacy practice that advises clients already
successful in other areas of life on reputation architecture.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Defence and Foreign
Affairs Institute (CDFAI), where he co-authored the monograph In
the National Interest: Canadian Foreign Policy in an Insecure World.
He is author of the concluding essay “Canada-Cuba Relations: A
Multiple-Personality Foreign Policy” in Robert Wright and Lana Wylie
(eds.), Our Place in the Sun: Canada and Cuba in the Castro Era.
He is now preparing a major book on Cuba with Professor Robert Wright.
Mark served for sixteen years from 1981-1997 as a
professional Canadian diplomat. His Foreign Service career included
assignments at the Canadian Embassies in Tel Aviv, Israel (1982-1985)
and Moscow, in the former USSR (1986-1989), where he was responsible
for political analysis and bilateral relations.
In 1990, he was senior aide for Parliamentary
Affairs to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, where he managed
the relations between the Minister and all institutions of Parliament.
Mark was Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of
Cuba for four (4) years from 1993 to 1997, and has been visiting the
island frequently since that time, maintaining a wide network of
contacts at the senior-most levels of the Cuban government. As
Ambassador, he guided all elements of the historically important and
delicate relationship with Fidel Castro's Cuba under the vigilant eye
of the United States, including political, commercial and security
relations. He was the architect of a dynamic trade development
strategy. Canada's trade with Cuba increased markedly, doubling
year-over-year for two years in a row and, during his tenure, Canada
became Cuba's largest trade and investment partner.
In a 1997 academic book on the bilateral
relationship between Canada and Cuba, his tenure as Ambassador to Cuba
is described as follows:
"Of particular importance is Mark Entwistle ...A
tireless and extremely talented negotiator, he is undoubtedly the
most dynamic and successful Ambassador to Cuba during the
revolutionary period."
At the same time, beginning in 1989, Mark acquired
gritty and extensive practical experience in government operations and
communications, acting first as Media Spokesperson for the Department
of Foreign Affairs. In 1991, he was seconded to the Prime Minister's
Office as Deputy Press Secretary responsible for foreign policy.
Months later, he was appointed by the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney,
Prime Minister of Canada, to serve as his Press Secretary and director
of communications. In that position, Mark was responsible directly for
all aspects of the Prime Minister's relations with the media and the
public communication and marketing of the policies of the Canadian
federal government on all issues and across the full range of
government departments and agencies.
He was at the center of planning across government
for all policy matters involving the Prime Minister, including
national policy initiatives, budget and financial issues,
federal-provincial relations and four G-8 Summits, numerous other
summit meetings with world leaders.
From 1999-2000, Mark also served as Chief of Staff
and senior communications advisor to the Right Honourable Joe Clark,
also a former Prime Minister and Leader of the then Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada.
He is Director of several entrepreneurial public
and private companies, including YM Biosciences Inc., a
biotechnology development company specializing in oncology, and is
Special Advisor to the Board of Directors of Coral Capital Group.
Mark is Director of the Canadian Urban Institute,
a public policy think-tank that seeks to improve understanding of the
urban agenda and quality of life in Canadian and world cities, and
Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Psychology beyond Borders,
dedicated to healing the psychosocial trauma in communities and
individuals affected by war, conflict, terrorism and disaster. He is
Director of The Belinda Stronach Foundation, Co-Chair of
Faiths Act Canada, an interfaith initiative in support of the work
of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, and Director of
PublicVoice.tv.
He is the recipient of the prestigious Saul Hayes
Award for Human Rights of the Canadian Jewish Congress for his
work in supporting the Cuban Jewish community.
Mark obtained his B.A. from the University of
Ottawa in 1979 and his Masters degree in History from the University
of Toronto in 1981.
He works in three languages: English, French and
Spanish, as well as working Russian.
Keywords: Canadian foreign policy, diplomacy, Cuba, Canadian-US
relations, political communications.
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