Ambassador Chris Shapardanov joined DPA after thirty-five years as a career foreign service officer, executive and Ambassador having worked on foreign and defence policy issues as well as security and intelligence matters. As Executive Director of Threat Assessment and Intelligence Services at Global Affairs Canada, he and his teams worked closely with CSE, CSIS and the RCMP and with Five Eyes partners. His teams were responsible for threat assessments to personnel and missions abroad, intelligence analysis and reporting, and technical security and elements of physical security. He served as Acting Director of Policy to the Foreign Minister in 2016 and provided strategic advice on defence procurement and other issues. As Executive Director for Circumpolar Affairs during Canada’s Arctic Council Chairmanship from 2013-2015, he worked closely with our indigenous Permanent Participants, with territorial government representatives and several partner departments to implement the Canadian agenda and to deliver the Iqaluit Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting.
Ambassador Chris Shapardanov
After serving as Director of the Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed Ambassador to Finland from 2009 to 2013. He managed trade, political and consular programs and provided strategic advice during three Ministerial visits. Supported by the Canadian-Finnish community and the Hockey Hall of Fame, he led a fundraising campaign to donate a championship trophy, the Aurora Borealis Cup, to the senior Finnish women’s hockey league. As a Director in the Global Partnership Program, he managed a budget of $75 million devoted to nuclear submarine dismantlement, chemical weapons destruction and nuclear material security in Russia. At the Canadian Embassy in Washington from 2000 to 2004, he served on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD) which was focusing military deployments to Afghanistan and ballistic missile defence. At NATO Headquarters, he worked on relations with Russia and Ukraine. During the air campaign of 1999, he was assigned to the KFOR command staff as a NATO Liaison Officer in Skopje, Macedonia.
Ambassador Shapardanov is the 2013 recipient of the UMD Macedonian Heritage Public Service Award.
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