Paul Genest Appointed Chair of National Gallery Board
Paul Genest (photo courtesy LinkedIn)
Paul Genest’s impressive resume in business, government and the arts now includes the post of chairman of the board of the National Gallery of Canada, Heritage Minister Pascal St. Onge announced Thursday.
Genest replaces Montreal businesswoman Françoise Lyon whose seven-year term expired this spring. Lyon steered the gallery when Sasha Suda and her interim replacement, Angela Cassie, held the director’s job, eliminating many of the senior curators and placing more emphasis on Indigenization policies. Many former curators and even former chairs of the gallery board had called for Lyon to be replaced.
The Toronto-based Genest is a senior vice-president of Power Corp. of Canada, a former Ontario deputy minister, a former policy advisor to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, a long-time board member of the philanthropic Business/Arts organization and, until recently, served as vice-chairman of the National Gallery Foundation, the influential fund-raising arm of the gallery. That latter post would have given Genest exposure to many of the workings and intrigues of the National Gallery.
Source: National Gallery of Canada, Galleries West
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