Board members
The CMA is governed by an elected Board of Directors. Meet the CMA’s Board.
President
Tracy Calogheros
The Exploration Place, BC
Since 2003 Tracy Calogheros has served as the CEO for the Exploration Place Museum + Science Centre on the traditional and unceeded territories of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation in what is today known as Prince George, British Columbia. Working in the industry since 1994, Tracy came to the museum with a love of biology and background in fine art and has spent her career exploring the synergies between the two. She has served on many boards including the British Columbia Museums Association and the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Currently serving as the Vice President of the Association of Science Museum Directors, Past President for The Canadian Association of Science Centres, and on the Boards for the Association of Science + Technology Centres and the Fraser Basin Council, Tracy’s roles have largely centred on advocacy, government relations and governance. Ms. Calogheros passionately believes that true Reconciliation and Climate Change are the two lenses through which all future decisions must be viewed.
Vice President
Heather George
Woodland Cultural Centre, ON
Heather is a mother, gardener, beader, curator and PhD Candidate. As a scholar of Euro-Canadian and Kanien'kehá:ka descent who grew up off reserve, much of Heather's personal and professional work has been directed at gaining a better understanding of the culture and history of her nation. Her current PhD research through University of Waterloo examines the historical and philosophical underpinnings of contemporary museum practices across Haudenosaunee communities. She seeks to better understand how material culture can be used to heal trauma and make space for cross-cultural dialogues. In 2019 Heather was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her research. Heather has spent over a decade working for urban and reserve based Indigenous organizations in the Six Nations of the Grand River territory focused on cultural preservation, heritage, and youth resiliency. Heather is currently working as the Executive Director at Woodland Cultural Centre.
Vice President
Armando Perla
Textile Museum of Canada, ON
Armando Perla collaborates with museums, cultural institutions, and communities on issues of human rights and social inclusion in Canada and abroad. Perla is a board member of both the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) International Committee on Ethical Dilemmas (IC-Ethics) and the Canadian Museums Association. In 2021, he was also Assistant Professor on Decolonization and Race in Museums with the Master of Museum Studies, Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto and also served as International Advisor on Museums, Human Rights and Social Inclusion for the City of Medellin, Colombia. Perla was part of the founding team of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Project Leader at the Swedish Museum of Migration and Democracy. During his tenure at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights he was also an adjunct professor both at the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba and in the Global College at the University of Winnipeg. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from l'Université Laval in Canada and a Master of Laws in International Human Rights Law from Lund University and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Sweden. Prior to working in the museum sector, Perla held several roles in human rights organizations in North America, Latin America, and Europe. Perla is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in Art History and Museology at the University of Montreal and in 2021 was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Fellowship for his research.
Director
Dorota Blumczyǹska
The Manitoba Museum, MB
Dorota was born in Poland; six months later martial law was declared, food was rationed, personal freedoms were suppressed, and an uprising took hold of her country. As a child she witnessed her family struggle under an oppressive regime eventually fleeing to eastern Germany. While living in a refugee camp for over a year, her family held onto hope that they would be chosen for resettlement. On October 27th, 1989 they landed in Canada as Privately Sponsored Refugees.
Prior to coming to the Manitoba Museum, Dorota was the Executive Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba Inc. (IRCOM). During her thirteen-year tenure, Dorota led the organization through a period of rapid growth, innovation, and increased impact and influence. Her deep sense of social justice and equity shaped her leadership of one of Manitoba’s largest and most dynamic settlement and community development organizations.
Joining the Manitoba Museum, a provincial cornerstone institution with reach into the lives of thousands of Manitobans has offered Dorota the opportunity to continue to fulfill her purpose of celebrating our shared humanity. In the midst of COVID and the resulting uncertainty, Dorota brought visionary leadership, great enthusiasm, and a renewed hope for the future. Having personally experienced the Manitoba Museum as a child refugee, she believes it has the responsibility to more meaningfully contribute to inclusivity and community cohesion, leaning into its purpose as a living institution and centre for intercultural dialogue. She also understands that the Manitoba Museum, which has partnered with Indigenous communities for decades, including The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is trusted by Manitobans to advance the TRC Calls to Action related to its work. Bringing communities together, and inspiring visitors to live in harmony with the world that surrounds them, the flora and the fauna, is the work that Dorota most passionately lends her heart and skills to.
She has a double major in Business Administration and English. In 2014, she was selected as an emerging female leader in Canada and invited to participate in the Canadian Women’s Foundation Leadership Institute in partnership with the Coady Institute of Development at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia from which she graduated in 2015. In 2019 she completed the Executive Education Program at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.
Her past board experience includes the Youth Agencies Alliance, the Manitoba School Improvement Program, Communities4Families, as well as the University of Winnipeg Healthy Campus Advisory Committee, the Provincial Healthy Child Advisory Committee of Cabinet and the Housing Advisory Roundtable to the Minister of Housing and Community Development, the University Of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation 2.0 Inc., and the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO). She currently serves as member at large of Hospitality House Refugee Ministries Inc. and as the President of the Canadian Council for Refugees, the largest national refugee rights advocacy group in Canada.
Director
M. Sam Cronk
Inclusiv Heritage
Originally from southern Ontario, Sam’s work is at the intersections of public history, arts, narrative and social justice. His professional background is multidisciplinary. An award-winning curator, educator, ethnomusicologist and digital archivist, Sam has partnered for over 3 decades with national and community-based organizations and museums in Canada and the United States, focusing on anti-racism, anti-colonialism, and the power of multidimensional storytelling. His career path has also included positions at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Scripps/Claremont Colleges, Western University, the National Music Centre, and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ Archives. Sam is an independent curator and co-founder and COO of Inclusiv Heritage, supporting contemporary and historical research with underserved communities, environmental scans, and digital engagement.
Director
Dolf DeJong
Toronto Zoo, ON
With a passion for protecting nature, an understanding of the challenges the natural world faces and a spirit of ruthless optimism, Dolf DeJong has enjoyed an incredible career in the conservation, wildlife protection and education field. Dolf began as CEO of your Toronto Zoo in September 2018, and his focus revolves around a commitment to raising the Zoo’s community connections to ensure we are working together to deliver on the new Strategic Plan. This Plan has a focus on saving wildlife, igniting passion, delivering exceptional guest experiences, serving the community and revolutionizing technology. Dolf has a Masters of Environmental Studies from Wilfred Laurier University, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Brock University.
Director
Marie-Claude Mongeon
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, QC
Marie-Claude Mongeon currently works at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and volunteers with the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice. She is currently pursuing a second graduates’ degree in sustainable development and recently served as a member of the 2023 CMA Conference Committee. Marie-Claude will serve as an appointed Director-at-large until the May 10th Annual General Meeting where her seat will be filled through an electoral process.
Director
Pailagi Pandya
Mackenzie House Museum, ON
Pailagi Pandya is Curator (A) at Mackenzie House Museum, City of Toronto. Pailagi stands out in the Canadian Museum sector as a change maker and as positive role model for emerging professionals and youth in Toronto. She has demonstrated through her work in Toronto, nationally and globally a deep commitment to advancing diversity, inclusion, equity, anti-oppression and anti-colonial practices. She joined the Scarborough Museum (City of Toronto) in 2004. She also worked as Curatorial Assistant at the Meharangrah Museum Trust, a UNESCO heritage site in Jodhpur, India. She sits on the Board of the Scarborough Historical Society and was an inaugural member of the Ontario Museum Associations' Emerging Museum Professionals Committee (2013-2016). Pailagi holds a Masters in Heritage Management from University of Birmingham (2014), and a Bachelor of Art History in a Specialist Program in Arts and Culture from the University of Toronto. She also holds a certification in Designing for Change from IDEO U and a certification in Disruptive Strategies from Harvard Business School.
Director
Madeline Smolarz
Madeline Smolarz (she/her) is a mad, queer museum professional living with an invisible disability located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada on the treaty lands and traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Neutral, and Haudenosaunee, particularly lands included in the Haldimand Tract treaty. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Classical Studies from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. For over 12 years, Madeline has contributed to the success of several arts, heritage, and culture organizations locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally. Madeline is an accomplished speaker and avid advocate for emerging museum professionals (EMPs), having presented on topics that intersect with EMPs' experiences on many stages. Her previous Board experience includes a term as Regional Director, International/Multi-Location of the American not-for-profit the National Emerging Museum Professional Network. Madeline currently works as the Director, Customer Experience of RealMeta, a Canadian museum technology company. In addition to serving on the Canadian Museums Association's Board of Directors, she also volunteers her time as the Founder / Co-Administrator of the Emerging Museum Professionals Canada Collective and as the Chair of Algonquin College’s Applied Museum Studies Program Advisory Committee.
Director
Sophie Yamauchi
Sophie Yamauchi is an emerging museum professional and advocate for sustainability, equity, and non-neutrality in museum-practice. Sophie is based on the unceded territories of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations (Vancouver, B.C.), and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Museum Anthropology from the University of British Columbia, and a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management and a Master of Arts Leadership from Queens University. She most recently wortked as Board Administrator for the Chinese Canadian Museum. Previously, Sophie worked at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Vancouver, and HR MacMillan Space Centre. She is a member of the Lower Mainland Museum Educators Conference Committee, and has volunteered with many museums across Western Canada and the U.K.
Director
Sandra Zapata
Canadian Museum of History, QC
Sandra Zapata is an Exhibition Projet Manager at the Canadian Museum of History. Previously, she was the executive director and curator of the Musée de la mémoire vivante in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. Her interests have focused on promoting the value of cultural heritage in all its forms. She is convinced of the transformative power of museums and conceives them as spaces for reflection, questioning, sharing and co-creation.
For the past thirteen years, Sandra has been working in the museum field as a museologist, research officer and consultant in Canada, Europe and Latin America. These experiences, carried out in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, have allowed her to develop a keen sense of communication and knowledge sharing. She holds a joint Master's degree in Cultural Landscapes and Heritage Management from the Université Jean-Monet in France. She also holds a post-graduate diploma in Museology from Université Laval in Canada, a Master's degree in Art History from UNAM in Mexico, and a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Universidad Nacional in Colombia.