On May 26th, Ruth McHugh was elected Chair of CPATA’s Board of Directors for a two-year term. Ruth has been dedicated to CPATA since the College’s inception, previously serving as Vice-Chair of the Board. Her business and governance experience will be invaluable to CPATA as we continue to fully implement professional regulation of the intellectual property professions in Canada.
About Ruth
Ruth is a professional accountant, FCPA, and a governance specialist with significant experience and understanding of regulatory environments and their impacts on the innovation ecosystem.
Ruth is an international board director governing organizations at the nexus of innovation and regulation. She has held C Suite roles in the public, private and not for profit sectors and has steered mergers and acquisitions from both sides of the boardroom table – as board chair and as executive management. Now in private practice, Ruth has recently led executive oversight of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly Office and has served as COO of the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta.
Ruth holds an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University and is a graduate of the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program. Her financial and governance acumen are valuable assets for CPATA’s Board.
“I am delighted to contribute to the IP ecosystem as Chair of CPATA’s Board at such an exciting time, as the regulation of patent agents and trademark agents creates a stronger, more robust profession and increases public confidence in and access to world class Canadian IP services.”
Ruth,
Chair and Director
About the Board of Directors
As an independent regulator, CPATA’s Board of Directors consists of five appointed and four elected Directors. Appointed Directors are non-licensees who are appointed by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. Elected Directors are licensees who are elected from the profession to contribute IP subject-matter expertise to the public interest mandate of CPATA’s Board of Directors. Together, all directors are committed to using their diverse and deep knowledge to fulfill the public protection mandate entrusted to CPATA by the Government of Canada.
