In July 2008, Joseph L. Rotman was appointed to a five-year term as Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Crown corporation that for over half a century has been the principal conduit of federal support for Canada’s professional artists and arts organizations.  In 2009, Mr. Rotman was appointed Chairman of Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), an independent non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada to deliver the Development Innovation Fund announced in 2008.  GCC is a new approach to foreign aid that strives to transform global health through Integrated Innovation - coordinated application of scientific/technological, social and business innovation to develop solutions to complex health challenges.  GCC works in a consortium with Canada’s IDRC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and is hosted by the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. In 2010, Joseph Rotman became the Founding Chair of the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI), a non-profit research & innovation institute.  The OBI has been established to transform brain research, translation and commercialization in Ontario and Canada.  The province’s top brain researchers with national and international partners will strive to turn discoveries into products and services to help people who are affected by brain diseases and disorders.  Mr. Rotman is Chairman of Roy-L Capital Corporation, a private family investment company.  He launched his business career in 1962 and has been involved in establishing a number of private and public companies active in oil trading, petroleum distribution, oil and gas exploration, merchant banking, real estate and venture capital.  He has served on numerous corporate boards including the Bank of Montreal, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Northwest Energy Ltd., Masonite International and TrizecHahn Corp.  He founded Tarragon Oil and Gas, Geocrude Energy, PanCana Resources, PanCana Minerals and Embassy Resources, as well as a number of other companies, and served as their Chair.  He also founded Clairvest Group Inc., a merchant bank, and continues to serve as a Member of the Board. Joseph Rotman received his B.A. from the University of Western Ontario in 1957 and his M.Comm. from the University of Toronto in 1960. During 1960-61 he studied at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in the Ph.D. program. Mr. Rotman was awarded an honorary LL.D. from the University of Toronto in 1994.  His appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada was announced on January 4/95.