Women & Leadership: Thriving in leadership roles

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Concordia’s female executive team discuss what Next-Gen leadership means to them.

Let’s support and recognize women leaders as intentional, strategic, intelligent, deliberate, goal-driven, focused, accomplished, successful, ambitious and visionary. Let’s rethink how we approach women’s leadership. 

Anne Whitelaw joined the Department of Art History at Concordia in January 2011 following 11 years as a faculty member in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta. Her areas of teaching expertise include the history of visual culture in Canada, theories of museums and exhibitions, historiography and archives, and the history of advertising.

Whitelaw's research examines the intersections of art historiography and cultural institutions in Canada, with a particular focus on practices of exhibition and collecting as a means of understanding the formation of nationhood. She has published extensively on the display of Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada, on the integration of Aboriginal art into the permanent displays of national museums, and on the work of settler collectors in Canada.

Annie Gérin holds a PhD in the History of Art and Cultural Studies from the University of Leeds, a Master of Art History from York University and a BA in art history from the Université de Montréal. An accomplished administrator, Gérin has held many roles at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM): she served as the interim dean of the Faculté des arts (2019-2020); was the Faculty’s associate dean, research and research-creation from 2018 to 2019 and was chair of the Département d’histoire de l’art from 2013 to 2016. She was also a faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Regina (2000-2004), and in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa from 2004 to 2006.

Fluent in English, French and Russian, Gérin has published extensively and is well known for her research in Canadian and Soviet art in the 20th and 21st centuries, with a special interest in visual satire, cultural policy, public art and community based practices.

A Montreal native, Sicotte earned her BSc, MSc and PhD from Université de Montréal. As an internationally recognized primatologist specializing in the behaviour of mountain gorillas and colobus monkeys, Sicotte has published 50 peer-reviewed articles, mostly in high-impact international journals. She has published every year since earning her PhD in 1993 and currently receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She has supervised more than 25 graduate students, several of whom now occupy academic positions in Canada or abroad.

In 1993-94, before joining the University of Calgary’s faculty, she served as director of the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, established by Dian Fossey in 1967 and supported by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. She has also chaired that fund’s scientific advisory committee, and has served on the editorial board of the journal Primates since 2004.

Anne-Marie Croteau's research focuses on governance of information technology, strategic management of information technology, globalization of information systems, and health information systems. 

She has many years of administrative experience, including those spent as associate dean responsible for professional graduate programs and external relations at the John Molson School of Business, associate dean of recruitment and awards at the School of Graduate Studies, director of the John Molson Executive MBA Program and the Aviation MBA Program, as well as the founder and director of the Graduate Certificate in e-Business Program.

Anne-Marie teaches at the doctoral, master and undergraduate levels; her courses cover topics such as strategic management of information technology, competitive advantage through information technology, fundamentals of electronic business, and management of information systems. She was ranked as one of the most popular professors at Concordia University by McLean’s magazine for seven consecutive years. Anne-Marie is a proud alumna, having received her BSc from Concordia in 1986.

Nadia Bhuiyan oversees the Experiential Learning Office, officially launched in 2019, and continues to reach out to faculty members, staff, students and third-party organizations to broaden experiential learning opportunities for students. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Concordia University and her MSc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.

Her research focuses on product development processes, dealing with the design, development, production, and distribution of goods and services, with a focus on emerging tools and techniques for integrating design and manufacturing to improve process performance. She is currently conducting research on the application of lean manufacturing principles in product development.

A nêhiyaw iskwêw (Plains Cree woman), Tremblay brings more than 20 years of experience providing high-level strategic advising on Indigenous education, research and employment initiatives to her role.

For 15 years, she served as coordinator of Concordia’s Aboriginal Student Resource Centre (formerly the Centre for Native Education) before moving to the University of Ottawa and the Public Service Commission of Canada in senior advisor roles.

Most recently, Manon was director of Indigenous research for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). While working for the SSHRC, Tremblay provided strategic guidance to Tri-Council presidents, members of the Canada Research Chair Coordinating Committee and the Minister of Science. She has appeared before the Canadian Senate and parliamentary standing committees.

Nura completed her PhD in Business Technology Management from the John Molson School of Business and is a Concordia Public Scholar alumna.

Nura is fascinated by the Future of Work, and is dedicated to understanding how advanced technologies, like managerial algorithms, are changing the way we experience work. Through her research, she aims to help organizations better prepare for and manage the future of work.