Director, School of Public Policy & Administration, York University

Alena Kimakova has been serving as the Director of the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA) since 2016. She is an Associate Professor at York University who is cross-appointed between the Department of Economics and SPPA, and teaches courses in economic development, political economy, international economics and research methods, including program evaluation. She has supervised numerous program evaluation projects in the Ontario Public Service and with not-for-profit organizations including the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of the Attorney General, United Way Toronto, Canadian Red Cross (York Region), Ontario Non-Profit Network, DeafBlind Ontario, Black Creek Community Health Centre and others. Alena’s primary research focus is the analysis of political and economic determinants of public policy. Her research on the political economy of exchange rate regimes, the implications of globalization for macroeconomic stabilization, and the economics of regulation has been published in both economics and interdisciplinary academic journals. She received her Ph.D. in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA, and has previously worked as an economist for Commerzbank Capital Markets in Europe.