Jean-Marc Mangin Steps Down as Head of Canada’s HSS Umbrella Federation

Christine Tausig Ford, left, and Jean-Marc Mangin

In a letter announcing his resignation, Mangin wrote that he had “concluded that it is now time for new leadership.” He has not announced what his next career move will be; his LinkedIn profile reads “on sabbatical.”

Tausig comes to the federation from Higher Thinking Strategies, where she is a principal with the Ottawa-based consulting firm, Before that she spent 34 years at Universities Canada, where her gradually increasing profile started with being a staff writer at for its publication University Affairs and culminated in being vice president and chief operation officer. She retired from Universities Canada in February.

The federation is in a national umbrella organization of more than 160 scholarly associations and universities that promotes their joint interests and missions to improve society. The federation organizes the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Canada’s largest academic gathering which draws more than 8,000 participants every year.

Mangin came to the federation in March 2010 from the world of international development and environmental activism – he spent nine years working with the Canadian International Development Agency and then led the Global Campaign for Climate Action (also known as Tck Tck Tck) for a little more than a year before coming to the federation.

In his farewell letter, he identified a number of signal changes that occurred under his watch, including a new five-year strategic plan that debuted earlier this year. The plan, said Stephen Toope, president and chair of the federation’s board, “places membership engagement at front and center for the foreseeable future.” For his part, Mangin said “new leadership will bring renewed energy to make these ambitious goals a reality.”