Paul MacKinnon

Chief Executive Officer at Downtown Halifax Business Commission

Speaker

Paul MacKinnon has been in the place management industry for 29 years, and has been the CEO of Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) since 2002. DHBC focuses on advocacy, beautification, marketing & communication, and membership engagement for its 1,700 member businesses in Eastern Canada’s largest city. He has served on numerous boards, and currently is on the boards of the International Downtown Association, Downtowns Atlantic Canada, and the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo. He was the Vice-Chair of the Urban Design Task Force, which oversaw the new Downtown Municipal Planning Strategy, in 2009. He is co-founder of the Art of City Building conference and Halifax International Fleet Week. Paul earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie, in 1993 and his Masters of Business Administration, also at Dal, in 1996. He earned his Leadership in Place Management (LPM) certification in 2022, and certification in Executive Presence and Influence from the Wharton School of Business, at the University of Pennsylvania in 2023.