April 7, 2021

MANAGEMENT CHANGE AT IVADO

Dear IVADO community,

We wish to inform you that our Chief Executive Officer, Gilles Savard, has announced his decision not to renew his mandate at the end of his term on July 30, 2021. He will remain with IVADO as an advisor and will continue his involvement in the Québec digital intelligence ecosystem.

Gilles has helmed IVADO from the very beginning and has been instrumental in the creation and development of our institute. A professor at Polytechnique Montréal with nearly 35 years of experience in operations research and more than two decades in university management, he has successfully implemented his vision that data and algorithms would change the world. His unifying leadership style has mobilized an impressive community of stakeholders around data valorization. With more than 1,400 affiliated scientists and 150 academic and industrial members and partners, IVADO is today a world reference for its ability to catalyze and mobilize knowledge and talent for a successful technology transfer and the creation of societal and economic value based on harnessing data responsibly.

“At the beginning of this adventure, 10 years ago, with our world-class research centres in digital intelligence, there were only a few of us who believed in the incredible potential of Montréal and Québec in the field of data valorization,” Gilles says. “One person at a time, we shared this vision and today, IVADO and our ecosystem is driven by a dynamic and ever-growing community, propelled by this common goal to transform advances in digital intelligence into benefits for society. I feel privileged to have been able to collaborate with exceptional people and proud of what we have achieved together.”
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Québec’s research and technological innovation infrastructure in the university sector, Gilles was awarded the Prix Personnalité Innovation by the Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l’innovation du Québec (ADRIQ) In 2017. He was also named a Knight of the Ordre des Palmes académiques de la République française in 2018 in acknowledgement of his career and contribution to France-Québec university co-operation.

We would like to thank Gilles for his remarkable contribution as CEO, inspiring leadership, unfailing positivism, participatory management style, and his laying of a solid foundation that will ensure the continuation of all the work he has undertaken with such passion and heart.

The IVADO team