Surf's up!

Nicholas A. Ignatieff
Owen Egan

Nicholas A. Ignatieff will become the first director of the Office of Strategic University Research Funding (SURF) — an expansion of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) program office — effective June 1.

Reporting to the associate vice-principal (research), SURF is responsible for the promotion, co-ordination and facilitation of all McGill University proposals directed toward the CFI and other major research initiatives. The SURF team includes Program Administrators Dan Génier and Mark Groot and Administrative Co-ordinator Nadia Signorino.

Ignatieff joined McGill in 1998 as director of administration and partnership development at the Canadian Institute for Telecommunications Research, a member of the Network of Centres of Excellence. Most recently, he held the dual roles of director of administration for the Agile All-Photonic Networks initiative and co-ordinator of the Centre for Advanced Systems and Technologies in Communications, both based in the Faculty of Engineering.

He worked previously with the Institute for Public Policy Research in Montreal, the Ontario Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. He also acted as a consultant in strategic planning and grant proposal development for various organizations.

A graduate of York University's Glendon College in political science, Ignatieff holds an MBA from l'École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Montreal) and a master's degree in public policy and public administration from the London School of Economics.

He can be reached by email. The central phone number for SURF is 398-8965. Note that the office will be moving from its current James Building quarters to 3550 University, second floor, during the early summer.