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Our Partners
Ken Mackay, President
Ken Mackay has over thirty years of experience in the government relations field. After seven years on Parliament Hill, Mr. Mackay spent eight years in the federal bureaucracy before joining the private sector with a major Canadian aerospace company.
On Parliament Hill between 1976 and 1983, Mr. Mackay held senior political positions with the Minister of Mines and with the Minister of National Defence. In government, he held senior policy positions in the Ministries of Regional and Economic Development, Supply and Services, Western Economic Diversification and Industry, Science and Technology.
Mr. Mackay has hands-on experience in all aspects of government procurement, including the development and implementation of successful industrial benefits strategies. He has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Cabinet decision-making process, and has been directly involved in many important policy areas, including: a broad range of major procurement projects at DND and related IRB considerations, the Canadian Space Program, Export Control and ITAR issues; as well as privatization and Alternate Service Delivery initiatives.
Since establishing Policy Insights in 1994, Mr. Mackay has been actively involved in numerous policy areas and specific procurement opportunities representing a growing list of aerospace, defence and high technology clients, including SPAR Aerospace Ltd., DRS, COM DEV, Cubic Defence Systems, L-3 Communications, Telesat Canada, MOSAID, MDA, xwave and many others.
Ken Mackay received his undergraduate degree at Carleton University in Ottawa ( B.A. Honours, Political Science) and completed a Master of Science (Economics) at the London School of Economics in London, England, where he focused on the international aerospace industry.
CANADIAN ASSOCIATES
W.M. (Mac) Evans - Consultant
For thirty-five years Mac Evans worked in several science-based departments of the Federal Government including: the Department of National Defence; the Department of Communications; the Ministry of State for Science and Technology; the Department of Industry; and the Canadian Space Agency. He has extensive experience in project management, program development, policy development, strategic planning, international relations, and industry development. He has held executive positions in industry (President and Chief Executive Officer of PRECARN Associates Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that has developed an innovative model of cooperation between industry, governments and universities) and in the Federal Government (seven years as President of the Canadian Space Agency). In 2001 Mr. Evans retired from the Public Service of Canada. In 2004, until the federal election in June, Mr. Evans was Chief of Staff for the Minister of National Defence, the Honourable David Pratt.
Mr. Evans developed the 1985, 1994 and 1999 Long-Term Space Plans for Canada and forged the broadly-based consensus among governments, industry and academia that allowed these plans to be approved with an allocation of over $3 billion of new funding. For more than twenty years Mr. Evans led the development of the unique partnership relationships between the Federal Government and the Canadian Space Industry that have been instrumental in the successful growth of the industry in the international marketplace.
Mr. Evans developed international cooperation as a fundamental component of the Canadian Space Program. He led the negotiations with NASA for Canada’s participation in the International Space Station Program, obtained approval for two extensions (for twenty years) of the cooperation agreement with the European Space Agency and established the Space Panel with Japan.
Mr. Evans has received numerous awards including: the Prime Minister’s Outstanding Achievement Award of the Public Service of Canada, the most prestigious award in the Public Service; the C.D. Howe Award from the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute for overall leadership in Canadian aeronautics and space activities; special recognition from the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada for his exceptional contribution to the Public Service; and NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal in recognition of his dedicated and exceptional efforts in support of US/Canadian cooperation in space. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society of Satellite Professionals International.
Mr. Evans is a graduate in electrical engineering from Queen’s University and obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Birmingham in England which he attended as an Athlone Fellow.
U.S. ASSOCIATES
O'Brien & Associates, LLC
The Madison House
Washington D.C.
Policy Insights has had a long and successful association with Washington-based government relations practitioners, O’Brien & Associates. O’Brien & Associates specializes in strategic planning, public affairs and government relations.
Dave O’Brien
Mr. O'Brien has been a consultant, strategist and lobbyist for over twenty years in Washington, D.C. He has extensive expertise representing corporations before the Executive Branch and on Capitol Hill. He has also held senior positions in the Federal Government. His clients include foreign and domestic defence contractors, aerospace, manufacturing companies concerned with environmental regulation and universities concerned with federal funding of education. Mr. O'Brien has worked with Members and staff of the Armed Services Committees and the Defence Appropriations Sub-committee. He has been an advocate of international cooperation in space and has lobbied successfully for continued funding for the International Space Station. He has also been active in lobbying numerous issues before the Appropriations committees in defence, space, education, environment, transportation and commerce.
