The Board of Directors is comprised of twelve volunteer members (nine elected, and three appointed), drawn from the CRKN membership. Details on Board composition, powers and operation may be found in the CRKN By-laws.
Member
Dr. Kim Brooks began her five-year term as Dalhousie's 13th President and Vice-Chancellor in August 2023, after serving as Acting Provost and Vice-President Academic. She previously served as Dean of the Schulich School of Law from 2010-15 and as Dean of the Faculty of Management from 2020-22.
A 3M Teaching Fellow, Dr. Brooks has held the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in the Law of Taxation at McGill University and the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law at Dalhousie in addition to academic appointments at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia. Prior to entering the academy, she worked as a tax lawyer with Stikeman Elliott in their Toronto and London (UK) offices. Among her numerous board and professional roles, she has been Chair of the Halifax Public Libraries Board, President of the Canadian Centre for Legal Innovation in Sexual Assault Response, President of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers, and Chair of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. She is currently Chair of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network Board.
Dr. Brooks holds a PhD from the University of Western Australia, a LL.M. from York University, a LL.B. from UBC and a BA from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Dianne Keeping currently serves as the Dean of Libraries at Memorial University, a position she has held since January 2022. She has a strong background in library management and research, holding a PhD in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Bradford and an MLIS from Dalhousie University. Prior to her current role, Dr. Keeping was the University Librarian at Mount Allison University and held various roles in archival research, cataloging, and collections. Her work focuses on supporting academic excellence through effective library operations, with particular expertise in collection management. She has been actively involved with CRKN for many years, representing the Atlantic region—initially as a member of the Content Strategies Committee (CSC), and later on the Board of Directors. She was recently appointed to the Executive of the Board, where she serves as Vice-Chair.
Dr. Dale Askey currently serves as Vice Provost (Library & Museums) and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta. Previously, Dale was the Associate University Librarian for Library & Learning Technologies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he also occupied the role of Administrative Director of the Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. He has filled a wide range of roles in libraries, primarily in collection development, public services, Web services, and information technology management. After starting out in libraries and IT at Washington University in St. Louis, he embarked on his professional library career at the University of Utah, with subsequent stays at Yale University and Kansas State University before joining McMaster. In 2009-2010, he was a visiting professor in electronic publishing and multimedia at the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, teaching in their library science, publishing, and museum studies programs.
His ongoing research project documents the cultural manifestations of the German-speaking minority that remained in the Czech and Slovak Republics after the post-WWII expulsions. This work formed the basis of the doctorate he completed in 2018 at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He earned his MLIS from the University of Missouri in 1998, and holds a BA from Colorado College and an MA from Washington University in St. Louis in German language and literature.
Bernard Bizimana holds an MSc in computer science and an MSc in library and information science. He first came to HEC Montréal in May 2005, and has been the director of the Library since May 2016. He is responsible for advancing the organizational vision and the strategic orientation of the Library and for aligning them with the teaching and the research goals of the School. During the last two years, his most important challenge has been to develop and implement a new business model for the Library. HEC Montréal is a Canadian business school that offers a comprehensive set of study programs, including a BBA, many MSc specializations, an MBA, an EMBA, and a PhD. With approximately 9,000 full-time students and 300 faculty members, HEC Montréal is one of the largest business schools in the world.
Susan Brown is Canada Research Chair in Collaborative Digital Scholarship and Professor of English at the University of Guelph. She engages from an intersectional feminist perspective with critical infrastructure studies and the use of semantic technologies for cultural scholarship through the Orlando Project in women’s literary history. Her work explores how online systems for creating, enhancing, and sharing cultural knowledge can support priorities such as collaborative knowledge production, diversity and inclusivity, respectful data creation and dissemination, sustainable access to cultural scholarship, and best practices in research data management and preservation. She directs the multi-institutional Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory platform and the Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship cyberinfrastructure project. At Guelph, she runs with colleagues an interdisciplinary major in Culture and Technology Studies and The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration (THINC) Lab. She is the President (2022-23) of the governing board of the international Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations.
Camille Callison, Tahltan Nation member, is the University Librarian at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) and a passionate cultural activist pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Manitoba. Her research critically examines the relationship between cultural memory institutions and the continued survival and activation of Indigenous knowledges, languages, and cultures. As part of her current professional contributions, Camille serves as the Chair of the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) and IFLA Professional Division H, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), and as a member of IEEE P2890™ Recommended Practice for Provenance of Indigenous Peoples’ Data, OCLC Reimagine Descriptive Workflows Advisory Group, NISO Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion subcommittee and the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce on Archives. She is committed to being part of creating meaningful change related to equity, diversity, and inclusivity in the library, archival and cultural memory professions.
Biography coming soon
Concordia’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Denis Cossette has more 20 years of experience working in the higher education sector. He began his five-year term on August 1, 2016.
Prior to joining Concordia, Cossette served as associate vice-president of Financial Resources at the University of Ottawa. He also held the role of director of the university’s Financial Services from 2005 to 2010 and served as interim VP of Resources for a one-year period.
From 1990 to 2005, he was the director of Financial Resources and vice-president of Administration and Finance for La Cité, a French-language college of applied arts and technology that has its principal campus in Ottawa.
A graduate of Université Laval (licence in accounting science, bachelor of business administration) and the Université du Québec en Outaouais (certificate in administrative data processing), Cossette is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and of the l’Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec.
Ken Hernden BA (Hons.), MLIS (Western University) is University Archivist and Associate University Librarian at Queen’s University with direct responsibility for the Queen’s University Archives and the W. D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections and shared accountability as a member of the Vice-Provost and University Librarian’s senior team for the academic mission, strategic directions, and administration of the Queen’s University Library. Before coming to Queen’s, Ken served for thirteen years as University Librarian and University Archivist at Algoma University, where he established the Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections. He was also founding co-director of the Shingwauk Indian Residential Schools Centre. He has worked at Rush University (Chicago), York University (Toronto), and the North Bay Public Library.
Denise LaFitte is an Associate University Librarian, and through to September 30, 2024 is Acting Vice-Provost (Library & Museums) and Chief Librarian, at the University of Alberta. She holds a PhD in Information Studies from Aberystwyth University, an MLIS from the University of Alberta, and an MA (Queen's) and BA (St. Francis Xavier) in English Literature. Denise's professional and research interests include evidence based library and information practice, collection management, and open access. Denise co-founded the open access journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, and via her work with CRKN she endeavours to make more of the world's knowledge accessible to all.
Vivian Lewis has held the position of University Librarian at McMaster University since August 2013.
Vivian is actively involved in professional service. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). In addition, she is a member of the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA)'s North American Regional Division and the Secretary of the IFLA Education and Training section, a group devoted to broadening skills and competencies across the library workforce. She is a former President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), a former member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and a former President of the Ontario College & University Libraries Association (OCULA).
Vivian’s current research interests include strategic planning, financial health and workforce competencies. She is currently leading a small team devoted to updating the Canadian and American portions of the IFLA Library Map of the World.
Vivian is committed to supporting CRKN’s dual mission to advance sustainable access to scholarly content and to the nation’s extraordinary documentary heritage collections.
Mark joined Toronto Metropolitan University as Chief Librarian in July 2023, after serving seven years as university librarian at Brock University. Prior to Brock, Mark spent 17 years at York University, including eight years as associate university librarian for information services.
Mark chairs the Canadian Association of Research Libraries Impact Framework Working Group and is a longtime member of the Ontario Council of University Libraries and Canadian Association of Research Libraries directors.
Mark earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, followed by a Master of Arts in philosophy from McMaster University, and a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto. He attended the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians in 2009 before participating in the prestigious Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellows Program. His professional interests include library space design, library impact frameworks, the institutional strategic alignment of libraries and leadership development.