Dr. Robert Slater is Adjunct Professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow in Environmental Policy at Carleton University and is the Executive Director of the Regulatory Governance Initiative. He is also President of Coleman, Bright and Associates, a consulting firm that operates internationally specializing in Sustainable Development issues and a Senior Fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

He was the last person to act as Chair of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy before it was disbanded in March 2013.

Dr. Slater occupied several senior positions during a 32 year career at Environment Canada and was the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for eight years. He was instrumental in establishing the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health. He played a lead role in the renegotiation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, Acid Rain Agreements with Provincial Governments, the Canada-US Accord on Air Quality, and the Green Plan. He led preparations for Canada's role in the UN Conference on the Environment (“Earth Summit”) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He was responsible for legislative initiatives leading to the Canadian Environmental Protect Act (CEPA) and the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and led development of regulations limiting lead in gasoline and bringing auto emissions standards in line with those in US.

He chaired the International Joint Commission's Great Lakes Water Quality Board from 1976 to 1982. Before joining the public service, he was co-founder of Pollutech, an environmental consulting company.

He was awarded degrees from Imperial College of Science and Technology and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2009.