March 29, 2024
Education News Canada

POLYTECHNIQUE MONTRÉAL
Maud Cohen: Polytechnique Montréal's new president, and first-ever woman to lead the university in its 149-year history

June 23, 2022

An accomplished manager with a passion for science, engineer Maud Cohen has been named president of Polytechnique Montréal. She will take office on August 10, 2022, for a four-year term. On the eve of its 150th anniversary, this is the first time the engineering university has a woman at its helm.

"Maud Cohen impressed the Comité de consultation and Board members alike with her varied accomplishments in management and philanthropy, and the leadership she's consistently demonstrated throughout her career. She has everything required to rally the community to support a unifying, promising vision that will enable Polytechnique to pursue its quest for educational excellence and research", explained Board Chair Pierre Lassonde. "I'm honoured by the trust placed in me," stated Cohen, who returns to Polytechnique 26 years after graduating from the industrial engineering program. "Polytechnique Montréal is an institution with a profound impact. It has the power to transform society through the quality of education offered to its students, and the research it conducts in partnership with other institutions and in industry. The engineering profession - past, present, and future - is critically important because society urgently needs to make a socio-ecological transition."

An engineer (Polytechnique Montréal - 1996), MBA (HEC Montréal - 2004), and certified corporate administrator (Collège des administrateurs de sociétés de l'Université Laval - 2012), Polytechnique's new president has an outstanding track record in ethics and the sound management of organizations with prominent places in society.

From last March and dating back to 2014, Cohen was president and CEO of the Fondation CHU Sainte-Justine. Prior to that, she was President of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (2009-2012) and was also President of the Executive Council of the Coalition Avenir Québec (2013-2014). Her career has also included the position of director at Invensys Systems Canada Inc., and then at CGI Group Inc., where she managed large-scale projects in Europe and the United States. Over the past year, Cohen has put her experience in engineering governance to use, as Head of the independent experts committee for the architectural and urban integration of the REM de l'est de Montréal.

Simultaneous to the above, for several years she has been involved in various boards of directors;  Loto-Québec, Gestion FÉRIQUE and Aéroports de Montréal are among the organizations that have benefited from her expertise.

Maud Cohen will become the 16th head of Polytechnique Montréal, and succeeds Gilles Savard, who has been the Interim President since last Autumn.

For more information

Polytechnique Montréal
2500, Chemin de Polytechnique, Bureau A-201, 2e étage
Montréal Québec
Canada H3C 3A7
www.polymtl.ca


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