Bruce Heyman served as the US Ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama from 2014 until 2017. His leadership emphasized the importance of the Canada-US relationship and pushed for more collaboration and cross-border investments. Today, he continues to work on strengthening the relationship between the two countries, serving as a strategic advisor to Canada 2020, a progressive Ottawa-based think tank. Drawing on his diplomatic background, Heyman shares insights into international relations and the art of diplomacy.
Heyman is often asked to provide insight on matters relating to the US economy, trade, and the US-Canada relationship for top media, including BNN Bloomberg, CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business, CTV, and NPR. In 2019, he, along with his wife, Vicki Heyman, published their highly-acclaimed first book, The Art of Diplomacy. It is a personal and insightful call to action about one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world — Canada and the US — and why diplomacy matters now more than ever before.
In 2020, the Heymans championed the American Voters Abroad (AVA) initiative for the Biden-Harris campaign. Through this effort, the Biden organization undertook the most comprehensive engagement of American voters living abroad ever by a presidential campaign, targeted at the 6.5 million eligible American voters living outside the US. As a result, they brought an estimated additional 500,000 to one million voters to the 2020 election. The couple are also the co-founders of Uncharted, a social enterprise that ignites meaningful change through community building. In addition, Heyman is a member of the advisory board to the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center, an honorary patron to the Council of the Great Lakes Region, and also sits on the advisory board for Uptake in Chicago.
Prior to becoming a US ambassador, Heyman spent 33 years at Goldman Sachs, where he served as partner and managing director in the Chicago office. He also previously served as a board member for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, as an advisor to the Fix the Debt CEO Council of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and as a member of The Executives’ Club of Chicago and the Facing History and Ourselves Chicago Advisory Board.
A magna cum laude graduate with both a BA and an MBA from Vanderbilt University, Heyman was named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Business People by Canadian Business in both 2014 and 2016.