Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he spent his early years in Aylmer, Ontario.
He received a diploma from the Ryerson Institute of Technology, an Honours B.A.
(Business Administration) from University of Western Ontario, and an M.Sc.
(Business Administration) and A.B.D.
(Economics) from Columbia University.
Brady then joined Canada's Department of External Affairs, and over the course of the next thirty five years spent a career traveling with External Affairs (San Jose, Costa Rica and Ottawa, Canada), C.I.D.A., I.D.R.C., and the United Nations (New York, USA and Geneva, Switzerland).