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Dominic Barton (born 1962), known as Bao Damin (鲍达民) in China, is a Ugandan-born Canadian business executive, author, and diplomat. He is the current chairman of the private investment firm LeapFrog Investments and was the chancellor of the University of Waterloo from 2018 to 2024. He served as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2019 to 2021. Prior to this, Barton was the Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, from 2009 to 2018 and has previously served as Chairman of Teck Resources and as Non-Executive Director at the Singtel Group in Singapore and Investor AB in Sweden.
In April 2022 Barton was appointed as Chairman of the Management Board of LeapFrog Investments, a private investment firm that invests in high-growth, emerging markets, with a focus on social and environmental impact.
Barton became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rio Tinto, the world's second largest metals and mining corporation, on May 5, 2022. In October 2022 the Eurasia Group announced the appointment of Barton as a Strategic Counselor.
Barton earned his Master of Philosophy in Economics at Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar and has advised Canadian governments, both Liberal and Conservative, on public sector transformation and economic growth.
Barton attended the University of British Columbia, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Brasenose College at Oxford University, where he received an MPhil degree in Economics.
Barton was elected to the position of Global Managing Director, a role that he served in from 2009 to 2018. After this role, Barton became Global Managing Director Emeritus for a year while accepting a broader range of philanthropic and advisory positions. From 2018 to 2019 he was chairman of natural resources giant Teck, one of the largest exporters of steel-making coal in the world. One employee resigned from McKinsey because of the increased work McKinsey did with Teck in that year, including projects titled "Coal Processing Optimization" and "Drill and Blast. On September 5, 2019, he was appointed as the Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.
He was Chairman for McKinsey in Asia from 2004 to 2009, operating out of Shanghai. He co-authored a book that provided insights into ordinary Chinese citizens and their way of life, China Vignettes – An Inside Look At China.
He has been an adjunct professor at Beijing's Tsinghua University and served on the School of Economics and Management's advisory board. Barton also chaired the Seoul International Business Advisory Council for six years and was a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board's International Advisory Council for ten years.
McKinsey was ranked as the number one consulting firm in the world for nine consecutive years during Barton's leadership. In 2013 and 2016 Glassdoor ranked Barton as one of the top CEOs globally, based on employee choice.
During Barton's time as Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Co between 2009 and 2018, the firm was embroiled in several scandals, e.g. - South Africa, Valeant, Insider trading by its investment affiliate, and association with several authoritarian regimes around the world. Since leaving McKinsey & Co, the firm has faced scrutiny over work McKinsey did for Purdue Pharma to improve its opioid sales, which contributed to the opioid epidemic.
The Council set a goal of lifting "the median household's income to $105,000 in 2030". It was about $80,000 in 2017. The Council also called for a gradual increase in permanent immigration to Canada to 450,000 people a year.
Previously he has served as a co-chair on the Max Bell School of Public Policy Advisory Board at McGill University and on the cabinet of the University of Toronto Psychiatry Campaign.
After taking on the role, Barton led Canada's efforts to win the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians who were imprisoned in China in December, 2018, in a move widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Throughout their detention, Barton conducted regular consular visits with Kovrig and Spavor, often delivering coded messages to avoid interception from eavesdropping prison guards.
The Toronto Star also reported that Barton's work on this file pre-dated his appointment as Ambassador, as his network and understanding of the relevant stakeholders helped pave the way for open communication channels between Chinese, Canadian, and U.S. officials. All three countries had "red lines" and Barton played a leading role finding a "pathway" that would ultimately lead to their release.
In April 2021, this included meetings in Washington where Barton received a commitment from senior U.S. officials to put intensity into their pressure on Beijing. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Barton maintained a line of communications with Xie Feng, China's Vice Foreign Minister, to coordinate the logistics of an eventual resolution that would bring the prisoner standoff to an end.
On September 24, 2021, Kovrig and Spavor were released from detention in China and boarded a plane with Barton to Anchorage, Calgary, and Toronto. It was reported by Canadian media that this flight followed weeks of consecutive meetings held with Barton and Chinese officials as part of a "highly choreographed" effort.
Barton was personally thanked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his role in securing the release of the two men.
On December 6, 2021, it was announced that Barton would step down from the role after completing the "core mission" that he had been appointed to achieve: securing the release of Kovrig and Spavor.
Most recently, Barton co-authored Talent Wins: The New Playbook for Putting People First, which argues that the primary driver of long-term success in companies is talent. The book maintains that business executives and leaders need to develop and manage their human capital even more intensely than they do their financial capital.
In April 2022, Barton joined the board of Rio Tinto, and in May, he became chairman.
In April 2022 Barton was also appointed as Chairman of the Management Board of Leapfrog Investments, a private investment firm that invests in high-growth, emerging markets, with a focus on social and environmental impact.
In October 2022 the Eurasia Group, a global political risk consultancy, announced that Barton was joining the firm as a Strategic Counselor. Eurasia Group cited Barton's extensive business and diplomatic acumen as reasons for the appointment.
Barton was also involved in the United Nations HeForShe initiative, a campaign focused on advancing global gender equality.
In 2010, Barton was made an honorary fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. He also sat on the board of the University of Oxford Saïd Business School.
Barton is a member of the Rhodes Trust Founder's Circle and was a trustee of the Brookings Institution.
He was director at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and chair of Canadian mining company Teck Resources.
He was a Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. He was a member of the International Advisory Board at the University of Oxford Blavatnik School of Government and of the Board of Trustees of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
He was the recipient of the 2014 Academy of International Business (AIB) International Executive of the Year Award.
He has received the INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award in 2011, the Korean Order of Civil Merit in 2013, the Singaporean Public Service Star in 2014, the Foreign Policy Association Corporate Social Responsibility Award in 2017 and Canada's Public Policy Forum Testimonial Award in 2017.
He additionally serves as Co-Conference Host at the St. Gallen Symposium together with Lord Brian Griffiths and Roshni Nadar.
Barton currently serves as the International Advisory Board Member of the Global Finance & Technology Network.
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