Search Committee Members Bios

Voting Members

Patrick Deane (Committee Chair)

Principal and Vice-Chancellor 

Patrick Deane became the 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University on July 1, 2019. He is the former President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, a position he held for nine years.  Prior to that he served as Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s and also held a number of academic administrative appointments at Western University and the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Deane is a Professor of English Literature, with his principal research focus being the relationship between cultural production and British politics in the first half of the twentieth century.  He read English and Law at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, before undertaking graduate studies and receiving both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Western University. Dr. Deane was the first recipient of the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature in 1988.

Mary Wilson Trider

Chair, Queen's Board of Trustees 

Mary is President & CEO of Almonte General Hospital and Carleton Place & District Memorial Hospital. She is a graduate of the Smith School of Business (B.Comm) and a FCPA, FCA.  Mary is active in numerous healthcare industry committees.  Previous Board service includes Ontario 211 Services Corporation, United Way of York Region (Past Chair), Booth Centennial Healthcare Linen Services (Past Vice Chair) and the National Ballet Endowment Foundation. Elected by the University Council to the Board of Trustees - current term to 2022. Current term on University Council to 2022.

Sam Hiemstra 

Rector 

BA (Hons) ’21. Sociology Major – Political Studies Minor. Sam served as President of the Queen’s International Affairs Association (2019-2020) wherein he helped oversee conferences, community outreach events, and media services including Right of Reply Podcast and the quarterly Observer. He also served as various Directorships (2017-2020) for the Queen’s University Liberal Association, Campus Outreach Director (2019-2020) for advocacy group Students for Students, and served Queen’s Model Parliament as Prime Minister (2020). Sam brings with him an optimistic attitude to strong town-gown relations and on campus mental health services. During his term as University Rector Sam looks forward to guiding students through the often-puzzling offices of the administration to ensure all students are being prioritized.

Cathy Matthews

Trustee & University Councillor

B. Comm. (Honours) '86; Chair, Board of Directors, Queen's AMS ' 86. Career Background: CPA, CA, Ernst & Young; Managing Director, Investment Banking, TD Securities, Toronto, Vancouver, New York and London; Consultant, National Bank Financial; & Founder, WealthTable. Past Volunteer: Camp Oochigeas; New Haven Learning Centre; & Council for Human Development. Independent Studies: Executive Education: Harvard; London Business School; & Wharton School; Human Development:  Adler Centre & Neufeld Institute. Personal Interests: sustainable finance, epigenetics and trees. Elected by the University Council to the Board of Trustees - current term to 2022. Current term on University Council to 2021.

Marcus Wong

Member of the University Council Executive Committee

BAH’03, West Vancouver, BC, City Councillor. CEO, AURUS Athletica. Provincially-appointed tribunal adjudicator. Spokesperson, major utility company. Communications advisor to cabinet ministers. Canadian Olympic Committee. Canadian Embassy (Washington, DC). MSc (Birmingham). GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCE: West Vancouver Police Board, Queen’s University Council (2008-2014), Queen’s Alumni Association, BC Association of Police Boards, Canadian Association of Police Governance, West Vancouver Track & Field Club, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, BC Luge Association, Richmond Art Gallery, University of Birmingham Senate. Member, Institute of Corporate Directors. AT QUEEN’S: Solar Car, MCRC, Withinsight, NTYLC, Queen’s Bands, Reunion Coordinator. Current term to 2023.

John Armitage

Elected University Councillor

BSc. (Civil)' 71; Head Coach, Rowing (1977-2016), Varsity Hockey 1967/68/69; Business Owner; President, Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce; Chair, Kingston Area Economic Development Commission; President, Kingston Home Builders' Association; Co-Founder, CFB Kingston Task Force; Chair, Canadian University Rowing Association. Member of: Kingston Business Hall of Fame, Kingston District Sports Hall of Fame, Kingston Rowing Hall of Fame, Brockville Collegiate Hall of Fame. QUAA Mentorship Award 2020, Kingston Achievement Award (Kingston Branch of Queen's University Alumni Association); Paul Harris Fellow Award (Rotary Club of Kingston); Kingston 2017 Canada 150 Citizen of the Year; Rowing Canada Coach of the Year; OUA Coach of the Year, Lifetime member, Grant Hall Society. Current member of the University Council Program Committee. Current term to 2022.

Kristin Moriah

Faculty Senator 

Dr. Moriah holds her BA from the Departments of English and Comparative Literature at Western University, and her MA from the Department of English at McGill. She completed her graduate career at the City University of New York Graduate Centre, taking first an MPhil in 2014 and subsequently her Ph.D. in 2017. Her scholarship is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary. Her dissertation “Dark Stars of the Evening: Performing African American Citizenship and Identity in Germany, 1890-1920” explored through extensive archival research the historiography of African American performance by looking beyond the usual limits of black diaspora as it has been typically imagined.

Suzanne Arniel

Staff Senator 

Suzanne Arniel is the Associate University Registrar, Records and Services. She has been working at Queen’s since 2002, successfully implementing numerous process and operation enhancements first as a Manager in Undergraduate Admission and then as the Assistant Registrar, Special Projects. She spent 3 years as the Associate Registrar at Loyalist College interpreting and administering academic and administrative policies and her areas of responsibility included admission, registration, student records, scheduling, financial aid and ministry reporting. 

Rico Garcia

Queen's University Alumni Association, President 

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Rico moved to Canada in 2009 to attend Queen's and study Applied Economics and Global Development Studies. At Queen's, Rico held various student leadership positions with ASUS, the AMS, and the QSAA. A past recipient of the QUAA Outstanding Student Award and the Tricolour Award, Rico loves volunteering for Queen's and is the current President of the Queen's University Alumni Association. Rico currently resides in Toronto, where he works as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. He also holds a Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Non-Voting Members