What Remembrance Day means to me

Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is president emerita of the University of Calgary after serving as president from 2010 until 2018. A champion for advancing the mission of the university and fostering excellence in higher education, she led the development of the university’s transformational Eyes High strategy and its $1.3 billion energize campaign through a focus on impact and a strong institutional culture. Prior to her term as president, Dr. Cannon was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aga Khan University and is a Director of the Gairdner Foundation and the Rideau Hall Foundation, in addition to being a director on several corporate and crown corporation boards including the Creative Destruction Labs. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering and the US National Academy of Engineering. In 2006, Dr. Cannon was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, and in 2019, was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2022, Dr. Cannon was awarded the Alberta Order of Excellence and was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame – Southern Alberta. She has received five honorary degrees and serves as an Honorary Captain (HCapt) in the Royal Canadian Navy.

An expert in geomatics engineering and a Professional Engineer, Dr. Cannon’s research has been on the forefront of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) since 1984 in both industrial and academic environments, and she has commercialized technology to over 200 agencies worldwide. Dr. Cannon’s work has been recognized with many national and international honours including the Johannes Kepler Award from the U.S. Institute of Navigation, an NSERC Steacie Award and the Gold Medal Award from Engineers Canada. From 1997-2002, Dr. Cannon was the NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering of the Prairie Region.

In addition to board work, Dr. Cannon is an active venture investor, especially in female-founded companies, and is the author of Enhancing Your Higher Education Presidency: Fifteen Lessons on Leadership.