Proactive Disclosure

Current Issue Back Issues About Adobe Acrobat PDF Documents

Géraldine Underdown appointed as the Interim Executive Director of the National Search and Rescue Secretariat

On March 5, 2007, Géraldine Underdown assumed her new position as the Interim Executive Director of the National Search and Rescue Secretariat. She brings to the position a wealth of management experience in the areas of program development, implementation and oversight.

Géraldine began her career as a Chemical Technologist after graduating from St. Lawrence College of Applied Arts and Technology in 1974. In 1982, she graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry).

Géraldine worked as a chemical technologist in the plastics industry, pulp and paper industry, and at Carleton University before joining Cameco (formerly Eldorado Nuclear Limited) in 1979. Her accomplishments included planning, obtaining regulatory approvals, and participating in the successful completion of environmental management projects, including the decommissioning and close out of the company's 1950's vintage uranium research and development laboratory and of the company's Beaverlodge uranium mine/mill facility located in Northern Saskatchewan.

In 1989, Géraldine joined Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as an expert in radioactive waste management and was appointed Director of a ministerial siting task force responsible for identifying communities in Ontario interested in hosting a radioactive waste disposal facility for the Port Hope area low-level radioactive waste. In 1990, she became Scientific Advisor, Radioactive Waste, in the Energy Sector at NRCan. Among her accomplishments were coordinating the development of the Government of Canada response (now Canada's nuclear fuel waste policy) to the recommendations of the Nuclear Fuel Waste Management and Disposal Concept Environment Assessment Panel, designing and managing consultation programs with key stakeholders including the nuclear industry, the public and aboriginal groups; and guiding the design and implementation of radioactive waste cleanups by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office.

In August 2000, Géraldine accepted a secondment assignment at National Defence in the Director Nuclear Safety Compliance group in Director General Nuclear Safety (DGNS) as Manager, Nuclear Safety Program Oversight and Compliance. Her responsibilities included developing, implementing, and overseeing the steady state management of comprehensive x-ray and radium programs as part of the overall nuclear safety program.

In January, 2001, Géraldine was appointed to the position of Director General Nuclear Safety for National Defence and the Canadian Forces. She established an organization, that is a parallel to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, to oversee the regulation of all military activities involving nuclear materials in Canada and in theatres of operation around the world.

 Back to index