An experienced engineer, Kathy Baig brings a wealth of project management expertise and a deep commitment to technological innovation to her approach to leadership. “What really made the difference to my career path,” she says, “was completing an MBA after receiving my bachelor’s in engineering.” After developing her engineering skills with prominent companies, she took on leadership positions and steered strategic initiatives in the transport sector. She has stayed invested in the ongoing improvement of the engineering profession in Quebec and Canada throughout her career.

This year, Montreal’s École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Founded on March 6, 1974 as a five-year pilot project by the Quebec government, ÉTS’ mission was to develop a new type of engineering, characterized by a practical approach. The institution quickly established itself in the Quebec university ecosystem and five years after its creation, it progressed past the pilot project status. Today, the institution is an essential pillar in the engineering sector of La Belle Province.

In 2024, ÉTS started a new chapter under the direction of Kathy Baig. With a strong background in engineering and leadership, Ms. Baig is determined to reinforce the status of the institution, not only in Quebec, but also on a national level.

University Affairs recently sat down with Ms. Baig to discuss where she wants to take ÉTS, as well as the initiatives that she would like to implement in order to support both the economic and industrial development in Quebec and Canada – all while solidifying the reputation of the institution on a global scale.

University Affairs: You’ve been CEO of ÉTS for about three months. What are your first impressions?

Kathy Baig: Even though I was already familiar with the organization, I couldn’t tell what ÉTS was like from the outside. What particularly struck me when I arrived was how solid the existing team was. They have a lot of experience. It also struck me how motivated they are. They have a sparkle in their eyes, they’re very engaged with their projects.

Next, I realized how dynamic this university is. When we view a university from the outside as regular citizens, we think of a place for studying, earning a diploma, conducting research. But it’s a real hive of activity on the inside, with innumerable projects in motion.

“I hope one day we no longer have cause to systematically draw attention to the first women in leadership positions.”

UA: What do you think are the main opportunities and challenges ahead of you?

Ms. Baig: First, there are so many projects underway. Bringing them successfully to fruition with the human resources and money at our disposal will require a lot of agility and optimization. That will be one of the first challenges.

Funding these projects poses another major challenge. Though ÉTS receives some of its funding from the provincial government, we set our sights high and our team is skilled and ambitious. Private sector buy-in will be essential to achieving all of our goals. Corporate support is almost part of the DNA of some older universities thanks to well-established alumnae and partners, but ÉTS is a young university. We’re only just celebrating our 50th anniversary. It will be critical to build and consolidate a culture of philanthropy to bring in the needed supplementary funds.

Finally, though the university has enjoyed robust growth and better standing in recent years, I still don’t think it receives the recognition it deserves — especially with regard to its talent. Another challenge in the coming years will to be raise ÉTS’ reputation — not only within Quebec, but within Canada and abroad.

UA: You’re the first woman CEO of ÉTS. What does this appointment mean to you, personally and professionally?

Ms. Baig: There’s no doubt it’s a tremendous achievement – I don’t mind saying so. This said, I hope one day we no longer have cause to systematically draw attention to the first women in leadership positions. We need role models. As the mother of a daughter, I hope the glass ceilings will all have been broken for her generation. I hope it becomes natural to see women in leadership positions. As it stands, I am proud of myself! I think it’s important to talk about it and set a good example, but I sincerely hope that, in a few years, it won’t be as talked about as it is today.

UA: You talk about women’s place in engineering. Have you faced any particular challenges as a woman in a still male-dominated field?

Ms. Baig: Certainly, I’ve faced numerous challenges. That said, I think it’s women like me (and countless others) who must change minds and open doors so the next generation encounters fewer barriers. When I was at the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, we conducted a study on the challenges female engineers faced in their professional career. I found it reassuring that women who have been engineers for 30 or 40 years see the situation as having improved since they started out. Still, there’s plenty of progress needed before true gender parity is achieved.

UA: Can you talk about your approach to leadership and team management?

Ms. Baig: I’m someone who places a lot of importance on listening. Especially as a new CEO, I have to listen to people to understand what’s going on. I also like to reach decisions by consensus after a probing discussion. For me, a project is successful if the whole team is still united once it’s all said and done. If we lost part of the team in the process of achieving our goals, we have not succeeded.

My leadership style relies on collaboration, listening and teamwork, but also on the courage to make difficult decisions when necessary. I’m very results oriented. For me, it’s fundamental that even as we reflect, consult and discuss, we still have to make decisions and advance toward achieving our goals.

“One day, every engineer will have to master artificial intelligence and information technology and use them in their work.”

UA: What role does ÉTS play in the economic and industrial development of Quebec?

Ms. Baig: ÉTS has a very important role to play in the economic and technological development of Quebec. This is at the heart of our mission. We adapt our programs to respond to emerging industrial needs. The construction industry, for example, has a high demand for environmental engineers. An aerospace program is also launching in 2025 to meet industry needs. We are constantly endeavouring to align our academic and research programs with market needs.

It’s also important to use research in support of economic development. We collaborate with industrial partners to respond to specific needs, such as infrastructure resilience against climate change. That’s why we created the AdapT Institute. As an institution of applied learning, ÉTS requires students to complete three internships. This helps industries meet their immediate labour needs while also preparing our graduates to hit the ground running when they enter the workforce.

UA: How do you see ÉTS evolving over the next five years?

Ms. Baig: ÉTS needs to keep working on increasing its graduation rates. We have clear targets to double the number of graduates to meet Quebec’s needs. This entails developing the necessary resources — professors and administrative staff — to support this growth. The university is already well known for its research, but we still need to strengthen our standing across Canada and abroad.

I also foresee ÉTS developing a number of institutes. This includes the AdapT Institute, as well as two other institutes currently under development: one focused on health technology and the other on quantum sciences. These institutes are needed to respond to our society’s major challenges. There are also plenty of opportunities in the business sector. Initiatives like Centech, our start-up incubator, already supports more than 100 businesses each year. We will continue to develop this ecosystem into a veritable hub of success in Quebec.

Finally, as already mentioned, there’s work to do on ÉTS’ visibility. We also want to maintain what’s already working, like our student clubs. We have more than 70 clubs involving more than 1,000 students. Clubs are a great way to gain skills beyond the classroom. I see the next five years as being full of challenges and potential for ÉTS.

UA: How do you plan to manage this growth while maintaining the academic excellence ÉTS is known for?

Ms. Baig: Since my arrival, we’ve begun revisiting our strategic plan to prioritize the most important elements of ÉTS’ development. This means ensuring that we have the financial, human and technological resources we need, and that everyone’s in alignment with our goals. By updating our strategic plan, we’ll identify the risks associated with each project and ensure we’ll be able to achieve all of our goals over the next five years.

“For me, a project is successful if the whole team is still united once it’s all said and done.”

UA: What are your strategies to attract more students to ÉTS and the engineering profession?

Ms. Baig: The labour shortage is a major issue. According to the Quebec government, engineering will be particularly hard hit. Our goal is to double ÉTS graduation rates by 2031. We have two main strategies to achieve this. First, we’ll do ample local recruitment to encourage young people to choose engineering and come to ÉTS. Second, we’ll focus on recruiting abroad. International students are a valuable asset for Quebec, since many choose to stay after completing their studies.

UA: What do you think are the  emerging trends in the engineering sector that will shape the near future?

Ms. Baig: I find engineering more complicated today than when I began my studies. Nowadays, projects are increasingly multidisciplinary – we’re working with a whole range of fields, not just engineering. We now collaborate with chemists, biochemists, doctors and plenty of others. This means engineers must be trained to work in these complex and varied environments. I think this is a major trend we’re seeing.

Anything to do with technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI), is another development. One day, every engineer will have to master artificial intelligence and information technology and use them in their work. Climate change is likewise a critical issue. I think it needs to be integrated across engineering education in a cross-disciplinary way.

A fourth trend has to do with soft skills. We have historically trained professionals who are very strong technically, but as projects become more complex and more international, today’s engineers need to develop skills in communication, collaboration, negotiation, leadership — even in psychology. These skills have become essential to performing well in our field.

UA: AI is a ubiquitous topic of conversation these days. What do you think are the main issues engineers are facing?

Ms. Baig: The first challenge is to really understand AI, especially the countless ethical questions it raises. How far can we take AI while still staying within ethical bounds? It’s a complicated question we don’t yet have all the answers to. A multitude of reports, papers and essays have been published proposing guidelines for its use. AI remains mysterious to us, even as tools like ChatGPT become more accessible. The big question is how to integrate this technology into our day-to-day while protecting the public. The engineer’s essential role as designer must also be preserved.

When I worked at an engineering firm, we considered using AI to automate recurring designs. The idea was to provide AI with existing data and let it produce a new design that we would then check. This sort of application raises questions about how we can use AI ethically. I don’t have all the answers, but this is an area that requires a lot of thought in both academic and industrial circles to prepare the new engineers of tomorrow.

UA: Is it exaggerating to call this a revolution in engineering education? Or is it better to call it an evolution?
Ms. Baig: I don’t think it’s a revolution — here’s why: we already work with design automation software. When I was a student, we ran simulations manually on paper. Then we got software that ran them for us. That’s already a form of automation. Now we’re just taking the next step. Some professions, like law and accounting, may see it as a revolution, since they used less of this technology before. But in engineering, we already had the momentum from technological integrations.

UA: What role do you think engineering plays in Quebec compared to the rest of Canada and abroad?

Ms. Baig: I’m well acquainted with the realities of engineering across the country, having worked for Engineers Canada for almost eight years. The issues are similar from one province to the next, especially with regard to professional practice, the role of technologists and anyone who may use the title of engineer. It’s in local industry specialization where I see differences. For example, oil sands dominate in Alberta, while in Quebec, the booming industries are batteries and other areas related to Hydro-Québec. These regional differences directly influence the pool of engineers and their expertise.

In terms of regulating the profession, I think Quebec is ahead of the rest of Canada. Here, professional orders are regulated by a government-enforced framework, which is not the case elsewhere in Canada. Our orders conduct a greater number of professional investigations and inspections, which offers a meaningful difference for public protection.

UA: What about international collaborations? How do they contribute to ÉTS’ development and excellence?

Ms. Baig: International collaborations are mutually beneficial. The pandemic actually broke down certain barriers by making virtual communication more commonplace. By sharing our expertise with international partners, we can take up increasingly complex global challenges. This contributes not only to our development, but to that of our partners. These collaborations also shine a light on ÉTS’ expertise at a global level. For example, our recent association with Horizon Europe opened a world of possibilities in terms of promoting our achievements and positioning ÉTS even better on the international stage.

UA: Many engineers like their jobs, but few aspire to leadership roles. What advice would you give new engineers who may want to follow in your professional footsteps?

Ms. Baig: That’s an excellent question, and one I’m not asked often enough. My main advice is to get management training. We talked earlier about the importance of communication and negotiation skills, but it’s also crucial to gain expertise in human resource management, planning and governance. What really made the difference to my career path was completing an MBA after my bachelor’s in engineering. I completed a two-year, part-time MBA program in the evenings with two small children at home and a full-time job. It gave me invaluable tools that have shaped me as a manager. So my advice would be to round out your technical training with management training.

UA: Looking ahead, what are your main personal and professional goals while at the helm of ÉTS?

Ms. Baig: My main goal for this tenure is to keep up the trend of growth ÉTS has sustained for the last few years. I’d like to support my team in maintaining — even accelerating — this momentum. I think I can add value to ÉTS with my significant experience in industry and in-depth knowledge of governance and management. My wish is to put my skills to work in the service of ÉTS, its partners, and its community to keep growing the institution.

UA: What mark do you hope to leave on ÉTS and the field of engineering in general?

Ms. Baig: I’d like it if, in a few years, we could say that ÉTS achieved new heights under my direction, be it in research, education, the development of our institutions, or philanthropy. We’ll soon be updating our strategic plan, which will be a chance to hammer down clear goals. My hope is that, at the end of my term, we’ll be able to say that we hit our targets and that ÉTS’ upward trajectory has continued.