Holding a Ph.D. from York University, Ralph Heintzman began his career as a university professor before moving to the Canadian Public Service. Over the course of his distinguished career, he was a vice-president of the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Board Secretariat and a vice-principal of the Canadian Center for Management Development. In 2006, Ralph was awarded the Vanier Medal, Canada's highest recognition for public administrators, for his exceptional contribution to Canadian public administration, notably in the fields of ethics and citizen-centred service delivery.