Véronique Marin Begins Her New Role as LBPSB Assistant Director General
by Julie Liebman
Formerly Director of International Programs at the school board, Véronique replaced outgoing Assistant Director General Thomas Rhymes last December. She will maintain her responsibilities in International until June 2023.
“I’ve had the honour of working with the outstanding leadership team of the LBPSB for many years and in my new role, I look forward to supporting them in the incredible work that they do for our community,” she said.
Véronique brings a wealth of talent, expertise, and experience to her new position. She’s held a variety of leadership positions at the LBPSB and also helped shape Quebec education in her roles with various associations and committees. In the past, she worked as Regional Director of Schools and Director of Continuing Education.
“I look forward to tackling the different challenges that lie ahead. I’ve had the privilege of working in the primary, secondary, adult, and vocational education sectors. I consider myself lucky to collaborate with the exceptionally talented staff across the continuum of education.”
Her education career began in 1999 when she started teaching in the adult education sector. “My brother-in-law worked at the LBPSB and told me they were looking for someone in the adult sector. At the time, I was working in sales and business but decided to apply for the position anyways. Although I had other degrees under my belt, I didn’t have my teaching diploma. The next thing I knew, the interview was over, and I was in the classroom the next day,” she explains.
This first experience is what sparked her love for education, and as Véronique explains, her second career was officially launched.
She went back to school part-time while raising her three daughters and four years later she would complete a one-year Masters level program at Concordia that would qualify her to be a teacher. And as the expression goes the rest is history!
Her jump to administration came five years later when she was assigned to be the vice-principal of Riverdale High School in 2004.
She took on several more administrative roles until she became the Assistant Director of Adult and Vocational Education in 2009, and then finally moved on to Director of International in 2017.
“My time in the International Department was certainly one of the more significant chapters of my career. I was given difficult dossiers to manage whether it was adapting to new pieces of legislation, fine tuning our recruitment strategies, or managing our finances. But thanks to my incredible team, I was able to create new processes and really revamp the department. I am extremely proud of what we achieved! We are finally a well-oiled machine and that took tremendous teamwork”.
As for the future, she is enthusiastic about what is to come. “I am extremely lucky because as I enter my new functions, I realize that my past experiences really have prepared me for my new position. I know my colleagues and I understand the culture of LBPSB.”
Finally, in addition to being a corporate leader, Véronique is a mom of 3 young women. When asked how she juggled a busy career, returning to school part-time while raising children for so many years, she says she always strived to remain a good role model to her children.
“As women, we have huge potential and we are capable of so much, but we need to establish boundaries between our personal and professional lives. To this day, I still believe that staying healthy and exercising gave me the balance and energy to manage my personal and professional life,” she explains.
“While at work, I gave 110%, but I always reserved evenings and weekends to spend time with my girls and I truly believe that working hard and playing hard helped me reach my career goals.”
As for her favourite aspect of working at the school board, she is adamant: “What drives me is to build capacity, to see people succeed, and harness the potential of those who work in our system. Seeing colleagues and students move forward in their careers and studies makes me incredibly proud.”