David George Alexander McLean, (born June 25, 1938) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, businessman and the chairman of the Board of the Canadian National Railway Company, and formerly of BC Rail until it was acquired by CN. Born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1959 and a

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1962 from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. In 1972, he founded his own real estate investment firm, The McLean Group and is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer. The McLean Group owns

Vancouver Film Studios Vancouver Film Studios is a film production facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is operated by the McLean Group of Companies. It consists of 12 purpose-built sound stages ranging in size from , eight production offices, and ...

, one of Vancouver's largest film industry companies. In 1994, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Canadian National Railway Company (he was also a member of the Board from 1979 to 1986) and became chairman in December 1994. He also served as Chair of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

's Board of Governors. He was appointed to the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier B ...

in 1999. He is a Knight of Justice in the Sovereign

Order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

. On January 24, 2018, he was appointed the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the

Seaforth Highlanders of Canada , colors = , colors_label = , march = "The Piobaireachd of Donald Dhu" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...

. On May 26, 2021, He was appointed the Honorary Colonel of The Seaforth Highlanders Of Canada.

References

* * * 1938 births Living people Lawyers in British Columbia Businesspeople from Calgary Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Members of the Order of British Columbia University of Alberta alumni University of Alberta Faculty of Law alumni {{Canada-business-bio-stub