About the Board of Governors


The University of Guelph was established by the University of Guelph Act, 1964 which requires that the University be overseen by a bicameral governance structure consisting of a Board of Governors and Senate. The Board of Governors is responsible for oversight of the government, conduct, management and control of the University and its property, revenues, expenditures, business and related affairs. The Board is also responsible for the appointment of the President and has authority over all areas of University governance not specifically assigned to the Senate by the Act. 

The work of the Board is governed by its bylaws and governing documents and managed, in part, through a system of standing committees. From time to time the Board also establishes ad-hoc committees and working groups to explore and report on specific questions or issues.  

The Act prescribes that there be up to 24 Board members. The Board conducts its business through committees that bring recommendations to the full Board at regularly scheduled meetings. Meetings include open sessions, which visitors are welcome to attend, and closed sessions. The Board's annual term of operation is from July 1 to June 30.

The University is a not-for-profit charitable corporation with a fiscal year-end of April 30th. Notwithstanding its legal autonomy, because it receives funding from both the provincial and federal governments, the University is responsible for reporting on a number of matters pertaining to its operation to both the federal and provincial governments.

Meeting agendas and minutes for all open session Board of Governors meetings are posted publicly.

The eighteenth, and current, Chair of the Board of Governors is Nancy Brown Andison, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79. A list of past chairs of the Board is available below. 

Thomas A. McEwan – 1964 - 1968

Ronald S. Ritchie – 1968 - 1972

Emanuel I. Birnbaum – 1972 - 1973

W.W. Lasby – 1973 - 1976

Kenneth G. Murray – 1976 - 1979

Alan R. Marchment – 1979 - 1982

Cecil H. Franklin – 1982 - 1985

Edmund C. Bovey – 1985 - 1988

Ian W. Murray – 1988 - 1991

William T. Brock – 1991 - 1995

Douglas Dodds – 1995 - 1999

Simon Cooper – 1999 - 2002

Michael Walsh – 2002 - 2005

Douglas Derry – 2004 - 2008

Evan Siddall – 2008 - 2011

Portrait of Board Chair Richard (Dick) Freeborough

Richard (Dick) Freeborough

2011 - 2015

Portrait of Board Chair Kevin Golding

Kevin Golding

2015 - 2019

Portrait of Board Chair Shauneen Bruder

Shauneen Bruder

2019 - 2022