Julie Payette Is Chief of Montréal Science Centre
Madame Julie Payette has been named Chief Operating Officer of the Montréal Science Centre (MSC).
The announcement was made Wednesday by Canada Lands Company, a federal arm’s-length Crown corporation that owns and operates the MSC. Ms. Payette also becomes a Vice-President of Canada Lands Company and will assume her new role on July 15, 2013.
“Science is fun and science is fundamental. I am delighted to join the MSC team,” Ms Payette said of her appointment.
Julie Payette is a Canadian engineer and astronaut who flew two missions in space for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). In addition, Ms. Payette worked as a crew liaison officer with ISS partners in Europe and Russia and served as CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) at NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.
[ Also Meet: More Tech Business Leaders at RMN Digital ]Ms. Payette (pictured above) was the Canadian Chief Astronaut from 2000 to 2008. In 2011, she became a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC and conducted research on the diplomatic and foreign policy benefits behind international collaboration in large-scale scientific projects.
Ms. Payette holds several distinctions, is a chevalier of l’Ordre National du Québec and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
The role is a homecoming for the Montréal born Payette, who most recently served as Québec’s Scientific Delegate to the United States, based in Washington DC.
As Chief Operating Officer of the Montréal Science Centre, Ms. Payette will be tasked with strengthening the MSC’s position as both a first-class institution and premier science culture establishment.
Welcoming more than 700,000 visitors annually, the Montréal Science Centre is one of the preeminent public attractions in the city of Montréal. The MSC is a science and technology complex that is renowned for its distinctive interactive, accessible approach, as well as its focus on local innovation and expertise.
Canada Lands Company is a self-financing federal Crown corporation whose sole shareholder is the Government of Canada.
