The Faces Behind our Success

Henry Lotin - President & Co-chair
Retired Canadian diplomat specializing in international trade and investment policy, promotion and development, serving as a research economist, and now economic consultant, devoting his efforts to bringing a planetarium back to Toronto. Since 2003, he has been engaged in tourism and investment promotion in the City, including a proposed redevelopment of Maple Leaf Gardens. Since retiring from public service in 2011, he has also undertaken a range of economic research projects for institutional clients, many highlighting the needs of Toronto for enhanced infrastructure development to accommodate and nurture talent and tourist growth.

Professor Mike Fich - Secretary & Co-chair
University of Waterloo professor of astronomy
Canadian lead investigator in numerous international observatory projects, including; SCUBA-2 camera (the principle instrument of), James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), High resolution spectrometer for the Infrared (HIFI), Herschel Space Observatory. Currently a leader of team building a new telescope: the $50-million Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope-Prime (CCAT-p) in Chile.

Jo-Ann Davis - Treasurer, Sr. Associate at Leman group
Jo-Ann has led successful strategic change initiatives for 15 years for some of Canada’s largest corporations, as well as provincial ministries and agencies. Jo-Ann is former Chair of the Board, and trustee for the Toronto Catholic District School Board (2010 – 2018). Jo-Ann is currently on the Board of Directors of Young People’s Theatre and is President of the Canadian International Council – Toronto Chapter.

Randy Attwood - Former executive director of the royal Astronomical society of canada
Previously, he was a publisher of SkyNews magazine, an astronomy and space exploration consultant, and a mainframe computer programmer.

Kirsten Vanstone Executive director of the Royal Canadian Institute
Kirsten has extensive experience developing formal and informal science programs and exhibits at the Ontario Science Centre, the Royal Ontario Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and the UofTs School of Continuing Studies.

The Space Place Team
Committee Leaders, Authors, and Key Advisors
We rely on a number of experts from diverse backgrounds on the Space Place team to communicate with our collaborators, to help with outreach initiatives, to bring you exciting new STEAM content and to coordinate website development efforts.