McMaster President and Vice-Chancellor Susan Tighe has made two key appointments to her team.

Clare Mitchell will join the Office of the President as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President, and Alexandra (Alex) Lawson will join the President’s team on a one-year secondment in a newly created role of Special Advisor, Institutional Initiatives.

Mitchell is the successful candidate to emerge from the recent highly competitive search for a new Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President.  She brings valuable experience to this role, including insight from her current role as Chief Operating Officer, Clinical Services, in the Faculty of Health Sciences, which she has held since 2019.  Mitchell has also worked as Director of Administration for the University of Toronto’s Department of Medicine, and as Director of Administration for the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Department of Surgery.

As Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President, Mitchell will provide executive-level support and counsel to the President, oversee the effective functioning of the Office of the President, and help to ensure alignment and close collaboration amongst the university leadership.

Lawson is currently McMaster’s Executive Director of Public Affairs. She has led McMaster’s government relations work since 2011, building a successful team with strong connections to the McMaster community and to the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government.

As Special Advisor, Institutional Initiatives, Lawson takes on a newly created role that will focus on collaborating with the President, Vice-Presidents, the President’s Chief of Staff and other university leaders helping to identify and advance key strategic opportunities for McMaster. CMPA is working to identify a candidate to take on her work in an acting role.

“Both these leaders are impressive and capable members of the McMaster community,” said President Tighe. “I am looking forward to working with Clare and Alex in these new roles as we begin a critical period in McMaster’s history – one that will present many opportunities and challenges.”

These appointments follow the interim appointment of McMaster Media Relations Manager, Wade Hemsworth, to the role of Associate Director of Communications in the Office of the President. Hemsworth replaces Erica Balch who recently assumed the role of Associate Director, Campaign Communications, within University Advancement. The search for the Director, Strategic Planning, is currently underway and the successful candidate for this two-year secondment position will be announced as soon as the process is complete.