Gisèle joined Food Secure Canada as Executive Director in May 2019 and has 20 years of leadership experience in knowledge organizations having served as a not-for-profit and government executive including Vice-President of Research and Partnerships at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Senior Director of Outreach, Communications and Research at Elections Canada and founding Regional Director for British Columbia and the Yukon of the Centre for Research and Information on Canada. Gisèle brings a deep food systems lens to her work and started working on agri-food issues in both Asia and Canada in the early 1990s and has published widely in the field including two books, several scholarly articles and media commentary in both English and French. She has held faculty appointments at the University of British Columbia, Royal Roads University and Dawson College in Montreal. Gisèle has a PhD from the University of British Columbia, a master’s degree from McGill and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from University of Ottawa. Gisèle has also advised numerous organizations including the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, “The Big Picnic” (a European-Union funded project on food security involving botanical gardens), the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. Gisèle is currently a member of the scientific committee of CityFood project at New York University. She has also served on four boards of directors of Canadian not-for-profit organizations over the course of her career.

Gisèle’s diverse skills and experience will help Food Secure Canada to strengthen, advance and support the needs of Canada’s growing and diverse food movement in a rapidly evolving global context. Gisèle is fluent in English and French and has studied Thai, Urdu/Hindi, Spanish and Mandarin. She loves to participate in the performing arts in her free time.