Brian L. French was born in New Brunswick in 1954 and graduated from the University of New Brunswick. After 7 years working as a commercial banker he entered corporate consulting for several years as well as representing Toronto for economic development purposes. After three years as partner in a communications company he became managing director of an advisory firm.
Mr. French was President of Basketball Saskatchewan and received a President's Award from Basketball Canada as a member of the Council of that organization.
He served on the Board of Directors of the Hepatitis C Society of Canada in the late 1990s. Mr. French's brother, Anthony, died in 1996 from hepatitis C, which he contracted from a blood transfusion. The Board of the Society successfully pressured the Liberal Government to offer compensation to those people infected by Health Canada and the Canadian Red Cross.
He was founder of the [International Development Research Council] in Canada, and was a co-organizer of the IDRC World Congress in Toronto. He was Vice Chair of the [McLuhan International Festival of the Future] and produced a program themed "the Death of Television" which featured Stephen Marshall of GNN - [Guerrilla News Network], Ori Neidich of Hollywood Hill], Doug Checkeris of [The Media Company] and Adam Vaughan of [CITY TV]. In 2006 he was Policy Director of Jane Pitfield's Mayors Campaign in Toronto. He is author of "Mojito" and a frequent commentator on topical issues on the internet and in various publications. He has been active in many political campaigns at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. He resides in Toronto, Canada