Nipissing announces executive director of external relations and advancement

Nipissing University is pleased to announce the appointment of Pauline Rochefort as Executive Director of the Office of External Relations and Advancement.

Rochefort’s duties will include: focusing on Nipissing’s growth as a university of choice; development of the university’s public profile, incorporating the theme of “educational excellence, one student at a time”; and development of capital resources and endowed funds in support of Nipissing’s strategic goals for research, scholarship, teaching and learning through enhancement of relationships with the broad community of alumni, government, foundations and other stakeholders and supporters.

Prior to coming to Nipissing University, Rochefort held a number of senior positions at the Business Development Bank in Ottawa and Montreal including Vice President Eastern and Northern Ontario, Vice President Human Resources and Administration and Director of the President’s Office.  She was named CEO of the Canadian Wood Council, one of Canada’s largest industry associations. 

Throughout her career, Rochefort has served on many volunteer boards, and led fundraising initiatives. As a member of the University of Ottawa's Board of Governors, she helped raise funds for the Telfer School of Management and the University Centre. She has worked across North America and chaired many events including a National Conference on Native Entrepreneurship and the National University Women’s Hockey Championship. She has received many awards that recognize her contributions as an entrepreneur and as a citizen. 

While working within Nipissing University’s School of Business, Rochefort launched the Biomass Innovation Centre, played a key part in gaining the support of a number of organizations for a major international conference on biofuels and recently secured $567,000 of Trillium funding for further initiatives in technology transfer and business development in the field of biofuels.