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Larry Hachey, chair of the Board of Governors for the University of New Brunswick, is pleased to announce the appointment of eleven new members to the Board.

The eleven individuals represent a wide range of interests and experiences. Among them are four UNB academics, a philanthropist, a telecommunication professional, a president of infrastructure development, two UNB students, the CEO of the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick and a retired health executive.

UNB’s Board of Governors is a group of dedicated volunteers who are passionate about advancing UNB and working to successfully strengthen and build relationships with our internal and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities of Board members include: the strategic oversight, risk management, mitigation and fiduciary responsibility of the institution. Members also assess the performance of UNB’s president and on the recommendation of the Fredericton and Saint John Senates approves educational programs and conferral of degrees.

The UNB community thanks members who completed their terms over the last year: Nicole O’Byrne, Jim Kieffer, Craig Fernandez, Brianna Forbes, Kelly Thompson (formerly Wilson), Phyllis Cooling, Hans O. Klohn, Paul Morrison and Tom Goud.

They would also like to thank the following former Board members for their service: George Daley and Margaret Grant-McGivney.

"This influx of new members is most welcome at UNB and comes at a time of great change at our beloved university,” says Hachey. “We are excited to add not only their voices, but their tremendous experience to the challenges we will face in the months and years ahead."

About the new Board members

Wayne Carson is the president of Kilmer Infrastructure Developments Inc., guiding business platforms in public-private partnerships, real estate development, purpose-built rental developments and several P3 concession-related operating businesses and partnerships. Wayne is both an engineer and lawyer, sitting as a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and a registered professional engineer in New Brunswick and Ontario. He earned both his civil engineering degree in 1987 and law degree in 1990 from UNB. The following year, Wayne received his master of laws degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Kevin Hoyt serves as the chief executive officer at the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick. Currently, he is a fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of New Brunswick and the chair of the CPA Atlantic School of Business. Kevin also acts as the Canadian board representative of the North American Securities Administrators Association and is vice-chair of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He earned his MBA from UNB.

Janet Knox is a retired certified health executive of the Canadian College of Health Leaders. She spent her career advancing clinical care, teaching, research and administration of the health system locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. With a passion for supporting the health of our population through healthcare innovation, Janet became the first president and CEO of the Nova Scotia Health Authority. She earned a bachelor of nursing from UNB, a master of nursing from Dalhousie University and an MBA from Saint Mary’s University.

Christopher MacDonald is a telecommunications professional and a former regulator and sales executive. From 2015 to 2020, Chris served as the CRTC commissioner for the Atlantic region and Nunavut, regulating and supervising Canada’s telecommunications and broadcasting industries. For over a decade, Chris held various roles with Rogers Communications, including senior manager of sales for Atlantic Canada. Presently, he is the provincial vice-chair and treasurer of Junior Achievement (JA) New Brunswick, a board member of JA Fredericton and a member of the Board of Governors for the Business Hall of Fame. Chris earned his BBA and MBA from UNB and a certificate in modern telecoms from the University of Derby.

Julia MacLauchlan is a retired Microsoft executive. Julia was the director of European Product Development in Dublin, global head of International Product Services, and later general manager of the Natural Language Group where she was responsible for all linguistic technologies. Prior to Microsoft, Julia was a director at a technology publishing company and a teacher. She earned a bachelor of arts from UNB, a bachelor of education from the University of Ottawa and a D.Litt from UNB.

Constantine Passaris, professor of economics at UNB, joined the board for his fifth term mid-year last year. He is a Dobbin Scholar (Ireland), an Onassis Foundation Fellow (Greece) and a member of the Academic Scientific Board of the International Institute of Advanced Economic and Social Studies (Italy). He is also a Canadian research affiliate of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy at the University of Lethbridge, an affiliate member of the UNB Canadian Institute of Cybersecurity and chair of the New Brunswick Advisory Board on Population Growth.

Kelly Scott-Storey is a triple UNB alumni, with a BN and MN in nursing and a PhD in interdisciplinary studies. She also currently serves as an associate professor with the faculty of nursing at UNB. Not only is she an internationally recognized leader in violence and equity-oriented health research, but she also holds a number of nationally funded research grants. She has a background in health and social orientation, which provides her with a unique interdisciplinary and equity-oriented perspective that has allowed her to successfully serve on many community, faculty, university and senate level committees. She also serves as director of community research, scholarship and teaches at the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre.

Dr. Thierry Chopin was born and educated in France. He moved to Canada, and the University of New Brunswick, in 1989, where he is a professor of Marine Biology on the Saint John campus. Dr. Chopin’s research focuses on the ecophysiology, biochemistry and cultivation of seaweeds of commercial value and the development of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems for environmental sustainability, economic stability and societal acceptability. Chopin has published 173 refereed papers, 26 book chapters and 47 non-refereed publications. He has frequent contacts with the media and has given 100 invited seminars in 14 countries. Chopin is past president of the Aquaculture Association of Canada, the Phycological Society of America and the International Seaweed Association. Dr. Chopin is honorary consul of France.

Janet Light-Thompson has a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering, a master’s in electrical and electronics engineering and a PhD in computer science. She joined the department of computer science and applied statistics at UNB Saint John in 2002. With research interests in wireless and mobile computing, green computing, sensor networks and network security, Janet was chair of the department from 2012 to 2015 and has served in a number of capacities through various departmental committees, SASE faculty and across campus.

Sean MacKenzie is a fourth-year computer science student, minoring in history. Born and raised in Fredericton, he is currently the president of the UNB Student Union (UNBSU) and was awarded faculty councillor of the year while serving as the UNBSU faculty of computer science councillor. He is a proven leader who held a number of other leadership roles, including peer mentor for the faculty of computer science and member of the UNB Fredericton Senate.

Patrick Hickey is in his final year at UNB Saint John in the bachelor of science, biology and psychology program. He is currently the president of the UNB Students' Representative Council (SRC), UNB Saint John’s student union. He also serves as chair of the New Brunswick Student Alliance and a member of the UNB Saint John Senate.

Media contact: Angie Deveau

Photo credit: Rob Blanchard