Jeff Lehman is the 46th Mayor of the City of Barrie, having been re-elected to a third term in 2018 with 91% of the popular vote. As the head of Council, he is leading Barrie through a period of rapid change. During his first term in office, Barrie led all metropolitan areas east of Alberta in the rate of job creation. From 2014-2017, Lehman chaired Ontario’s Big City Mayors’ Caucus (LUMCO), representing Ontario’s 28 largest cities. In 2015, Barrie was named the safest big city in the country, and was just named Canada’s 3rd most entrepreneurial city by the Financial Post. Mayor Lehman is also a founding director of Alectra, the second largest community-owned utility in North America, serving more than a million customers in southern Ontario.

He holds a B.A. from Queen’s University, and a Master’s Degree with first class honours from the UK’s London School of Economics. As an economist, he worked with cities across the country to manage redevelopment and invest in their urban infrastructure, and writes and speaks frequently on issues affecting Canada’s cities. In 2017, he was awarded the Gil Bennett Award by the Conference Board of Canada for excellence in corporate governance education through the Director’s College. He was also named the 2017 Community Leader Influencer of the Year by the Economic Developers Council of Ontario. In 2019, the prestigious US business magazine Fast Company named Lehman number 26 in its top 100 Most Creative People in Business for his innovative solutions in government. Mayor Lehman is a passionate believer in transforming urban economies through public and private entrepreneurship.