Craig Desjardins

Craig Desjardins has a diverse work experience spanning over several years. Craig started their career as a Councillor at the City of Quinte West, serving in the Trenton Ward for over a decade from 1998 to 2010. Craig then moved on to work as an Executive Director at Community Futures of Prince Edward and Lennox & Addington, a community and business economic development organization, from 2004 to 2016. Concurrently, they also served as an Executive Director at the Prince Edward Lennox & Addington Institute for Rural Development from 2007 to 2016. In 2010, Craig Desjardins took up a role as an Adjunct Professor at Queen's School of Business and taught till 2015. Craig later worked as an Executive Director at the Upper Canada Equity Fund from 2015 to 2016. Currently, they are engaged with the City of Kingston where they have held two roles - first as a Senior Manager of Innovation and Institutional Partnerships from 2016 to 2018, and currently serves as the Director of the Office of Strategy, Innovation & Partnerships. In this position, they aim to foster the growth of an innovative entrepreneurial community in Kingston and strengthen partnerships with post-secondary institutions, other levels of government, and community stakeholders.

Craig Desjardins completed their Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Western University from 1985 to 1989. Following this, they pursued a Master's degree in Business Administration from Queen's University between 1989 and 1991.