Shelley Ambrose, Vice Chair

Shelley Ambrose Photo
Shelley Ambrose

Shelley Ambrose is the former Executive Director of The Walrus, a position she held from 2006 to June 2020. Previously, Shelley worked in public affairs at the Canadian Consulate in New York, as a producer at CBC Radio’s Morning with Peter Gzowski, and at The Pamela Wallin show; as well as a producer of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Visit to Canada. She started her career as a reporter at the Globe and Mail and The Windsor Star.  She holds degreees from Western University (where she now sits on the Advisory Council for the SASAH School), and Ryerson, where she received the Headliner Award for excellence. Shelley is a founder of the Lakefield Literary Festival, and sits on the boards and campaign committees of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Lapham’s Quarterly, the Arctic Rose Foundation, the Canadian Canoe Museum, and HopeTowns. Shelley was born in Chatham, Ontario and raised in Calgary, Alberta where, in her teens, she started her own neighborhood newspapers, worked at a fish and chips shop in a double decker bus, and was head usher at The Calgary Stampede Rodeo. She has been honoured with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for Volunteerism and The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Arts and Letters. She lives in Toronto.