Mary Elyse Allan CM (born 1956/1957) is a Canadian businesswoman, and a former president and CEO of

GE Canada General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy ...

. She was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

as a champion of scientific literacy, particularly among girls.

Early life and education

Allan is originally from suburban New York. In 1979, Allan received a bachelor's degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in biology and environmental studies, and an MBA in 1984 from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where she also serves on the board of overseers. Allan received honorary doctorates from

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

, Saint Mary's University and Royal Roads University.

Business career

Allan's career at

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

began in 1984 and she has worked in the US and Canada in several industrial and consumer GE businesses including aviation, energy, and lighting. She retired from GE Canada at the end of June 2018, ending a 14-year career as the head of its Canadian division. Allan serves as a director on boards including the

Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded in ...

, the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

, the

C. D. Howe Institute The C. D. Howe Institute (french: Institut C. D. Howe) is a Canadian nonprofit policy research organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It aims to be distinguished by "research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based, and subject to definitive exper ...

, and the

Conference Board of Canada The Conference Board of Canada is a Canadian not-for-profit think tank dedicated to researching and analyzing economic trends, as well as organizational performance and public policy issues. Describing itself as "objective" and "non-partisan", th ...

. Allan has completed her board terms at the Business Council of Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, where she also served as chair. She joined GE in 1984 and transferred to the Canadian operation in 1988. She left General Electric to work as a marketing executive with

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity ge ...

. She then spent a decade as president and CEO of the

Toronto Board of Trade The Toronto Region Board of Trade is the principal local business community organization in the City of Toronto. It is the largest Chamber of Commerce/board of trade in Canada and one of the largest in North America. Its primary contemporary focu ...

, returning to GE Canada as CEO in 2004. Allan retired as CEO of GE Canada in 2018. She served as an economic advisor to the Canadian Government under

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

and

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

Personal life

Allan is married to Don, they have one son, and live in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. In 2014, she was awarded the Order of Canada for "her achievements as an innovative business leader and for her community involvement."

External links

GE profile

References

Living people Canadian women chief executives General Electric Tuck School of Business alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 1950s births {{Canada-business-bio-stub