Jo-Anne McCutcheon Joins the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) as Executive Director

November 7, 2017

The Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) announced the appointment of Dr. Jo-Anne McCutcheon as Executive Director.

Dear ACA Members:

The ACA Board is pleased to introduce to the community that the ACA has a new Executive Director, Dr. Jo-Anne McCutcheon.  She will assume the full position duties on November 13, 2017.

Jo McCutcheon is a Canadian historian and entrepreneur, whose extensive knowledge of Canada’s rich archival landscape, passion for archival research and excellent knowledge of non-profit organizations will bring more than twenty-five years of diverse professional experience to the Association of Canadian Archivists as the new Executive Director.

She holds a doctorate in Canadian history from the University of Ottawa, where she has been teaching full time for several years, including digital history, microhistory, gender, children and youth and survey courses in Canadian and US history.  She has taught in the department of history, at the Institute of Canadian and Indigenous Studies and in the university’s new digital humanities program integrating digital tools to collect, manage, and curate research and records. Her teaching and research have recently focused on the colonization, decolonization, racism and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

While teaching, Dr. McCutcheon has also worked for more than 20 years building two research firms.  She served as Vice-President Research for the large national research firm, overseeing the daily and national operations for complex archives-based research projects that had small and large research teams in Ottawa and Vancouver. She has experience directing private sector research teams and coordinating and managing archives-based research projects in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and for team members working in provincial and municipal facilities in almost every province. In both the private sector and in academia she has merged her passion for collecting, managing and disseminating research with a keen interest in technology and designing databases and using multiple platforms to meet project objectives.

Dr. McCutcheon also brings to the ACA her experience of working with national funding organizations.  She is a former Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Board member, a former SSHRC program committee member, and more recently served on the advisory board of the Canadian Museum of History’s investment program for the Virtual Museum of Canada. She is a member of the Executive of the Canadian Historical Association (CHA), where she has served as Treasurer since 2013. In 2015-2016 she was President of the Ottawa Historical Association and worked with Library and Archives Canada to bring programing to the archives and to provide Ottawa’s vibrant community of archivists, museum and heritage professionals and emerging scholars with a beautiful public space for sharing their research.

Jo was born in Calgary and grew-up in Winnipeg.  She has taught at the University of Edinburgh and lived in Scotland.  She lives in Ottawa with her family and is a board member for Minwaashin Lodge, which provides support and programing to Indigenous women in Ottawa. She has been on the board since 2013, serving as Treasurer from 2015-2017, and Vice-President from 2017-2019.

Regretfully we have said goodbye to Craig Noonan, and we thank him for his time with the ACA.

Sincerely,

ACA Board of Directors