David Brown returned to Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP as Counsel following seven years as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Securities Commission. Prior to joining the OSC, he was a senior corporate law partner with a predecessor firm to Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg for 29 years, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and reorganization. During his tenure as Chair and CEO, the OSC moved from a government agency to a self-funded Crown Corporation with a renewed mandate to provide effective protection to investors while maintaining strong, efficient capital markets in Canada. David led the expansion and reorganization of the OSC to meet the increasing demands of a changing market. This enabled the OSC to strengthen its resources and to focus its activities on providing a balanced regulatory response to emerging issues.
David has played a significant role in national and international regulatory bodies. He was the founding chair of the Council of Governors for the Canadian Public Accountability Board, a national body he helped form to oversee the audits of Canadian publicly-listed companies. He is the past Chair of the Audit and Assurances Standards Oversight Council, a body formed by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants to oversee the setting of Canadian auditing standards. In 2007 he undertook an independent investigation into matters relating to RCMP pension and insurance plans, and delivered his report, "A Matter of Trust", to the Minister of Public Safety and to the President of the Treasury Board of Canada. He was subsequently appointed chair of a five person task force to examine issues of governance and culture with the RCMP. The task force report and recommendations were delivered to the Minister of Public Safety and to the President of the Treasury Board on December 14, 2007.
David is past Chair of the Technical Committee and former member of the Executive Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. He is a former member of the Public Interest Oversight Board, a body formed by international regulatory and supervisory bodies to oversee the standards-setting and other public interest activities of the International Federation of Accountants.
David received his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Carleton University in 1963 and his LL.B from the University of Toronto in 1966. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1984, was awarded an honourary doctorate of laws from McMaster University in 2005, was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2009 and received the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2012.
David has served on a number of boards and advisory committees. He is a Director and member of the Funds Advisory Boards for the Invesco Trimark group of mutual funds and a Director of Input Capital Corporation. He is a past Director of Canada Health Infoway and is the former Chair of the Departmental Audit Committee of the federal Department of National Defence and a former member of the Panel of Senior Advisors to the Auditor General of Canada.
David has also been an active volunteer. He is a past Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University Health Network; a past Chair of the Public Policy Forum; past Chair of the Governance and Leadership Council of the Ontario Hospital Association and a former member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Osgoode Hall Law School and The Dean's Advisory Council for the Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics. He is a past Director of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, Cancer Care Ontario, the Ontario Smart Systems for Health Agency and a past Director and President of the Granite Club.