Dr William Leggett

Dr William Leggett has been appointed chair of the board of directors for the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), replacing Dr John Evans who served in the position since the CFI's inception in 1997. Prior to his appointment (effective February 5/07), Leggett was principal and vice-chancellor of Queen's Univ from 1994 to 2004. While principal, he was also a professor of biology, only the second scientist at Queen's to hold the principalship. Leggett heads up the CFI board when the organization finds itself at a crossroads, having virtually exhausted its allocated research infrastructure funds and in discussions with government about a continuing and expanded role. He holds a BA from Waterloo University College (now Wilfrid Laurier Univ), an MSc in zoology from the Univ of Waterloo and a PhD from McGill Univ. He held several academic positions at McGill, reaching VP academics in 1991. Leggett holds a variety of honourary awards including fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada, the Award of Excellence in Fisheries Education and the Award of Excellence from the American Fisheries Society....