Current Position and Past Experience
Since 2009, Bonnie Patterson has been the President and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities. This is Patterson’s second term as President of the COU; she served as President from 1995-1998. In between her two terms, from 1998-2009, Patterson served as the President and Vice Chancellor of Trent University. Patterson has also served as the Dean of Business at Ryerson University, and chaired its School of Administration and Information Management.

Patterson served as one of four Canadian university presidents to the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. She has served as Chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada; as a Director on the board of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre for nine years, including two as its Chair; and on the board of directors for the International Consortium on Anti-Virals (ICAV). Currently, she is a member of the Ontario government’s Private Sector Advisory Committee, the Advisory Board for the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation, and The Roberta Bondar Foundation.

In addition, Prof. Patterson served as the province's representative on the founding board of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and participated in a number of provincial advisory committees including the Biotechnology Commercialization Centre Fund; Health Industries Advisory Committee on Sectoral Strategy Development; and the Centres of Excellence, Ontario Technology Fund.

Education, Honors and Achievements
Patterson earned her BA and her MLS from the University of Western Ontario.

In 2006, Patterson was recognized by the Women's Executive Network with a Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada award in the Trailblazers and Trendsetters category. In 2010 she was appointed to the Order of Ontario and as a Member of the Order of Canada for her contributions as a leader in postsecondary education.