Alumni Profile: Johanne Picard-Thompson
2T5 Mid-Career Achievement Award | Johanne Picard-Thompson | EngSci 8T4
Johanne Picard-Thompson is a meticulous professional with probing intellect.
After graduating from Skule™, Johanne joined IBM Manufacturing, which later became Celestica, one of Canada’s largest public electronics manufacturing services companies. She started as a failure analysis engineer. She later applied her materials engineering skills to qualify the surface mount technology lines that helped introduce the technology responsible for the core production capability at Celestica. She quickly advanced into management and by 1994 was promoted to vice president operations. In 1999, she became senior vice president overseeing all Canadian operations. In 2005, she decided to take on a new challenge and moved to Shell Canada to work on their oil sands projects where she oversees the start up of Shell’s mine and upgrader expansions.
Johanne’s professional achievements are numerous. In 1996, when Celestica launched an important customer high-reliability disk storage product line, she successfully led the production of a year’s worth of volume in just one quarter while ensuring Celistica remained environmentally responsible in the manufacturing and disposal of products.
At Shell Canada, Johanne has been active in promoting best management practices in the implementation of the multi-million dollar oil sands expansion initiative for Royal Dutch Shell in Alberta. Other achievements include:
- Celestica President’s Award, 1994 and 1995
- Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, 2001
- Recognized by U of T for her contribution to “The Alumni Chair in Bioengineering,” 2003
- Recognized by U of T as a President’s Circle Individual Lifetime Member, 2007
- Founding member of the IBM Advisory Council on Women, shaping future policy and programs for the advancement of women within the IBM organization
- Member of the NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) Advisory Committee for the Shell Manufacturing Centre
2T5 Mid-Career Achievement Award
This award was created by enthusiastic alumni from the Class of 2T5 on their 50th anniversary of graduation and has been presented annually since 1975.
The award recognizes a graduate who has garnered respect within the profession as well as the broader Canadian community, and who has already attained significant achievement and exhibits promise of further contributions.
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