Rumina Velshi

Distinguished Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Rumina Velshi

Biography

Main Bio

Rumina Velshi is a nuclear engineer and experienced public policy practitioner.

She was the President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal government’s independent nuclear safety regulator, between 2018 and 2023. Before that, she was a CNSC Commission member, a  long-time executive at Ontario Power Generation, as well as a member of the Ontario Energy Board. She is currently a senior advisor at Torys LLP in its Energy and Infrastructure Practice, a senior advisor to the CEO and board of the Polish multinational Orlen Synthos Green Energy, a board member of Hydro Ottawa and SaskPower, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. She is a co-founder and principal of ZettaJoule Inc., a Japanese startup which intends to provide clean power directly to commercial end-users through Japanese high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology. Velshi also holds numerous positions with international nuclear organizations, including membership of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency; chair, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency High Level Group on Stakeholder Engagement and Trust; and International Expert Advisor to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Velshi obtained her undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees and her MBA  from the University of Toronto. She has extensive experience nationally and internationally in promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers, especially for women. She lives in Toronto.

Updated June, 2024