The Royal BC Museum operates in seven core business areas. The directors of these areas, along with RBCM CEO Pauline Rafferty, make up the Museum's executive team.
Gary Mitchell - Director, Collections, Research and Access Services
Tim Willis - Director, Exhibitions and Visitor Experience
Faye Zinck - Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer
Pauline Rafferty
Chief Executive Officer
“The Royal BC Museum’s success is not mine, but ours. We did it together. It’s about an organization moving in a single direction, and I think we’ve achieved that. We’ve become more focused, more directed, and that’s how you achieve things.”
Pauline Rafferty brings an ideal mix of knowledge, skills and experience to the position of Chief Executive Officer, which she has held since 2001. A trained archaeologist, she worked in the field for five years from 1974 to 1979. Through the 1980s, Pauline worked for the provincial Archaeology Branch, Heritage Trust and later the Ministry of Tourism. Her work first centred on archaeology, then on heritage interpretation, from supervising survey crews and managing grant processes for heritage-project proponents to meeting the marketing and financial needs at provincial sites such as Fort Steele and Barkerville. In 1990, Pauline was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Women’s Equality. Two years later, she joined the Royal BC Museum to help the institution develop a new business plan, and from 1994 to 2001, she was a Director within the museum, responsible for managing finance, marketing, human resources and information systems.
With her appointment as CEO in 2001, Pauline set out to achieve several objectives. Among the successes so far: transforming the RBCM to a Crown corporation; seeing a new Museum Act implemented; having title for Cultural Precinct lands transferred to the RBCM Corporation; and achieving greater financial self-sufficiency. Still on Pauline’s list of things to accomplish: bringing to fruition the RBCM’s master redevelopment plan, with new state-of-the-art collections and exhibits facilities; putting in place stable, multi-year plans for programs and exhibits; and advancing the work already begun on the RBCM’s strategic research plans.
Pauline has been honoured for her work at the RBCM with awards from the Canadian Museum Association, Tourism BC and other organizations. She serves on the boards of the National Capital Commission’s marketing and programming advisory board, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Victoria. Pauline is currently the President of the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada (ANHMC). Additionally, she is an active volunteer with several community organizations in Greater Victoria.
Diane LloydDirector, Development
“I am lucky in my work that I can help people make a difference for the Royal BC Museum. That benefits our community and the province, and it makes a positive contribution in their lives, too. That’s very rewarding.”
Diane Lloyd joined the RBCM executive team in 2007 after seven years as the University of Victoria’s Manager of Corporate Relations. At UVic, Diane implemented a strategic alliances program that brought the corporate sector, the university and the wider community together in partnerships that leveraged $12 million for the university. She won a best practices award for this success. Diane previously lived in Winnipeg, where she was Executive Director of the Manitoba Games and Sponsorship Manager for the Pan-American Games. As the Royal BC Museum’s first Director of Development, Diane is creating new strategies for community engagement, corporate partnerships and philanthropy. She is also working to harmonize the way the RBCM and Friends of the RBCM Foundation communicate with the public. The building blocks Diane establishes over the next couple of years will create a sustainable fundraising program to support the future vision of the Royal BC Museum.
Theresa Mackay
Director, Marketing and Communications
“Variety and creativity are incredibly important to me. That’s what drew me to the Royal BC Museum. The story of British Columbia is endlessly varied, and everybody here is passionately creative about sharing it.”
Theresa Mackay is a proven leader in BC’s marketing and communications landscape. Previously with HSBC Bank
Canada as assistant vice-president of marketing, she implemented national strategies that helped make HSBC one of the most successful institutions in its class, and one of the best recognized companies in the world. She has developed programming for cultural facilities such as
Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, and negotiated sophisticated sponsorship agreements with leading arts organizations, including the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in
New York City. Wherever Theresa has applied her talents, success has followed – whether she was teaching marketing at
Capilano College, being the marketing director of the BC Dairy Foundation, writing for
Marketing Magazine or as past-president of the American Marketing Association’s BC chapter. In the Royal BC Museum, Theresa sees a great opportunity to be creative, communicate with a worldwide audience, develop the brand and help better connect the people of
British Columbia with their museum and archives.
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Gary MitchellDirector, Collections, Research and Access Services
“There is nothing more important than our stewardship of the provincial collections; how we acquire, preserve and make accessible the “BC Story” – the natural history and human history of our province. I want to leave my successors a provincial collection that reflects British Columbia’s communities and that is open and accessible to British Columbians everywhere.”
As Gary Mitchell sees it, the true value of the provincial collection (its historical documents, artifacts and specimens) – the story of British Columbia, its people and places – can only be realized through making the collection more open and more accessible and bringing it forward into context of our daily lives. Traveling in Europe years ago, Gary realized people gained their sense of identity in large part by connecting with their history. He applied that understanding by earning a master’s degree in archival studies and becoming a manager with the BC Archives in the late 1980s. Gary excelled, becoming Deputy Provincial Archivist in 1991 and being named Provincial Archivist in 1998. With the 2003 integration of the BC Archives and the Royal BC Museum, Gary has led successful initiatives to harmonize public access to archive holdings and museum collections through a new collections-management system and an enhanced Internet portal. As Director of Collections, Research and Access Services , Gary continues to strengthen the collection, oversee research projects into our human and natural history and make the collection evermore accessible.
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Angela Williams
Director, Business and Operational Services
"I love working with people, and at the RBCM, I’m part of an organization that is service-oriented, passionate about what we do, flexible and committed to sharing this province’s history with the world. That’s truly special.”
Angela Williams has spent nearly two decades improving organizations by putting their people first. Her work in the human resources field has been recognized through recognition from the BC Human Resource Management Association as a 2006 Award of Excellence finalist. Angela has pioneered new approaches to recruiting, training and retaining staff at the Royal BC Museum, and she has incorporated these strategies into the organization’s everyday operation. She is also responsible for property management and site renewal, security services, admissions and customer service, and volunteer services functions at the RBCM. Angela joined the corporation in 2003 after 14 years in human resources and information technology departments at three provincial ministries. She has received a masters-level certificate in leadership from Royal Roads University; is a designated Canadian Human Resource Professional (CHRP); completed a business diploma program at Camosun College; and studied Sciences (Math and Physics) and English at the University of Victoria. As the Executive leader responsible for human resources, Angela is exceedingly proud of the RBCM's achievement on being named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and BC's Top 40 Employers for 2008; BC's Top 50 Employers for 2009; and again, one of Canada's Top 100 and BC's Top 55 Employers for 2010.
Tim WillisDirector, Exhibitions and Visitor Experience
"Museums have the ability to change people’s lives by revealing stories they never imagined and by creating in them a sense of wonder that can last a lifetime.”
Tim Willis was raised in the UK and obtained degrees in environmental design and architecture. Three decades ago, he moved to Canada, became an architect in Calgary and later worked as a planner of provincial historic sites. Tim spent 20 years with the Royal Alberta Museum, ultimately becoming its Director of Exhibits and Marketing. He developed a long-term facility master plan and headed a project to create a new visitor experience for the expanded museum during his tenure there. He moved to Victoria in 2006 to accept the position of Director of Exhibitions & Visitor Experience at the RBCM. Tim is married with a grown daughter and enjoys playing the bagpipes and editing video productions in his personal time. He sees museums as exciting places where academic understanding, entertainment and engaging activities come together to inspire people of all ages. Tim has recently been elected to the Council of the BC Museums Association.
Faye ZinckChief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer
“I love to learn and therefore change is part of my nature. With the changes at the RBCM, I have been able to use change management skills to assist in moving the RBCM towards a stronger entrepreneurial environment. There is always something new and exciting to learn at a museum and archives!”
Faye Zinck was born in
British Columbia and grew up in
Saskatchewan and
Alberta. She married, had two children and stayed home to raise them through their early years. In the mid-1980s, Faye secured a business diploma at
Red Deer College, a job at a biomedical research firm in
Vancouver and then a position at the Science Council of BC. In 1996, Faye became Director of Finance at the BC Transportation Financing Authority in
Victoria, a post she held until joining the Royal BC Museum as Chief Financial Officer in 2003. As a Certified General Accountant, she is passionate about numbers, loves accounting and embraces the opportunity to make organizations more successful by developing better financial and management systems. Faye is a hard-working leader at the Royal BC Museum.
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