From left, Dr. Earl Cook, Lisa Bird-Wilson, Geordy McCaffrey. (Submitted photo/GDI)

By paNOW Staff

New Leader

Gabriel Dumont Institute announces new CEO

Mar 22, 2021 | 12:09 PM

A Saskatchewan Métis and nêhiyaw writer whose work appears in literary magazines and anthologies across Canada is the new chief executive officer for the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research Inc. (GDI).

In a media release Monday, Lisa Bird-Wilson was named as the person who will head the institution. A survivor of the Sixties Scoop, Lisa Bird-Wilson will begin at the helm of GDI this spring.

She succeeds long serving CEO Geordy McCaffrey who announced last year he will leave to pursue new challenges and opportunities.

“We are pleased to welcome Lisa Bird-Wilson into the position of CEO for the Gabriel Dumont Institute,” said Métis Nation—Saskatchewan (MN—S) Education Minister, Dr. Earl Cook, in the release. “After a comprehensive search by a national executive search firm, we were able to validate our selection of an internal candidate who has over 23 years of experience at the Institute.”

Bird-Wilson, who started her career at GDI in 1997, has filled a variety of senior leadership roles and is a familiar face within the Institute, the community, and the province. In 2011, Bird-Wilson published An Institute of Our Own: A History of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, which chronicles the Insitute’s history. GDI was established in 1980.

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“I’ve seen first-hand the incredible impact GDI has on Métis students’ lives,” Bird-Wilson said. “I also appreciate the background and history of the struggle for Métis education in Saskatchewan. I’m thrilled to help carry forward, and build on, the Institute’s important legacy.”

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