St Arnaud leaves CANARIE after 15 years

Bill St Arnaud, CANARIE's chief research officer (CRO) and an internationally recognized expert on research and education (R&E) networks and network energy usage, has left the organization after a 15-year career, effective immediately. St Arnaud has recently become a passionate advocate for reducing the carbon footprint of networking activity — so-called green IT — and will be exploring opportunities in the field in the coming weeks and months.

St Arnaud is not commenting on the reasons for his departure, but says he remains committed to R&E networking and green IT and "I hope to use the tools of the trade" gained through his tenure at CANARIE.

CANARIE president and CEO Guy Bujold says St Arnaud's departure is not a setback for the organization, which is in the midst of developing proposals for the next CANARIE mandate beginning in 2012. Nor does it reflect lack of support for moving aggressively in the area of green IT. But he adds that the organization has a larger mandate and therefore requires a CRO that reflects the its broader focus.

"The organization is too small to have a senior person focused on one particular area," says Bujold. "We have been in discussions for some time on the direction of CANARIE and he (St Arnaud) decided he would use it as an opportunity to go and seek new opportunities. Bill and I collaborated closely on the statement we released."

St Arnaud joined CANARIE in 1994 as a network analyst and quickly rose through the ranks. He led several key initiatives that vaulted Canada into the vanguard of R&E networking, including grid computing, user-owned networks, user-controlled lightpaths, cyberinfrastructure and most recently green IT. He says CANARIE's green IT pilot program is a great start that he hopes will become a part of the organization's core mandate.

"Canada is in an ideal position. We have lots of renewable power which is a national advantage because most of our energy is zero carbon," says St Arnaud. "Industry Canada needs to decide. It should be a pillar of Canada's economic strengths."

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