Geneviève Béchard

Dr. Geneviève Béchard was appointed Hydrographer General of Canada and Director General for the Canadian Hydrographic Service with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in February 2018.  Since 2003, she has held progressively more senior executive positions within the Government of Canada in science departments, at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, at the Geological Survey of Canada and at the Meteorological Service of Canada.  Dr. Béchard holds a Ph.D. in environmental microbiology and started her career in R&D applied to mining. In her current role, Dr. Béchard is active within the International Hydrographic Organization.  She co-chairs the United States-Canada Hydrographic Commission and is a member of the Arctic Regional Hydrographic  Commission and of the International Hydrographic Organization’s Council. She has also been serving as Canadian Co-Chair of the Lake Ontario St Lawrence River Board of the US-Canada International Joint Commission since 2016, where she works with her US counterparts to provide oversight to the regulation of outflows from Lake Ontario.