President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri has issued the following message to the York University community:
I am very pleased to inform you that the search for a new university secretary and general counsel has reached a successful conclusion.
Last fall, I established a search committee charged with undertaking a search for the next university secretary and general counsel. Following an extensive national and international search, which attracted a number of outstanding candidates, the committee recommended the appointment of Maureen Armstrong. On April 14, the Board of Governors Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board of Governors, concurred with my recommendation for the appointment. I am delighted to announce that Maureen has accepted our invitation to take up a five-year term as university secretary and general counsel, commencing July 1.
Maureen joins York University from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB), Ministry of the Attorney General, where she has served as chair of the board for the past six years. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board is a quasi-judicial independent agency with 50 staff and 30 board members. Prior to CICB, Maureen was vice president of Central and Eastern Region at Legal Aid Ontario. She led the implementation of a reorganization of the legal aid service delivery for low-income Ontarians. In addition, she also served as the co-chair of the French Language Services Working Group to help improve the provision of French language services to clients.
Maureen also worked for many years with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in a variety of roles, including director general of legal services and director general of corporate management. She has extensive experience in providing strategic legal and policy advice to organizations, committees and senior leadership. Her leadership helped the commission reduce the time taken to complete human rights complaints by more than half.
She received her BA from the University of Guelph, her LLB from Queen’s University and completed her postgraduate degree in human rights law from the Instituto de Derechos Humanos, Complutense University in Spain.
I would like to thank the members of the University Secretary and General Counsel Search Committee for their contributions to this important process. I would also like to express my appreciation to Harriet Lewis for the exemplary advice, service and support she has provided during her 25 years as university secretary and general counsel.
We look forward to welcoming Maureen to York University and working with her as she undertakes this important leadership portfolio, contributing her skills and experience to the achievement of our shared objectives for the University. I hope that all members of the broader York community will join me in congratulating and welcoming her.