Dr. David J. Finch is an educator, scholar, and practitioner whose work focuses on higher education, labour markets, regional economic development, and adaptive learning systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences and a Doctor of Design at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. His dissertation, Open Learning Architecture: A Policy Guide to Unlocking Human Capital, examines how civic policy, institutions, and learning infrastructure can be redesigned to mobilize human capital amid accelerating disruption better. Dr. Finch is Professor of Innovation and Marketing at Mount Royal University and Research Director of The Productivity Project, a national research and policy initiative focused on Canada’s productivity challenge and the role of human capital in long-term prosperity. He is also a Research Fellow at Henley Business School, University of Reading, and has had past academic appointments at the University of Guelph, the University of Calgary, and Ohio University. From 2022 to 2025, he served on the Government of Alberta’s Ministers’ Council for Higher Education and Skills. Dr. Finch has authored more than 50 scholarly articles, including in journals such as Academy of Management Learning & Education, Higher Education, International Journal of Management Education, Education + Training, Journal of Business Ethics, and Industry and Higher Education. During a secondment to Calgary Economic Development, he led a series of applied research initiatives on Calgary’s labour market and learning ecosystem. This work included mapping the city’s learning ecosystem, developing Calgary’s Skills Development Framework, conducting policy analysis on youth migration, and completing labour-market studies to inform regional economic and workforce strategy. Before entering academia, Dr. Finch spent more than 15 years in senior corporate strategy and policy roles in the global technology sector, including with Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, and L3Harris Technologies.
