In May of 2026 CHIN launched a call for nominations of heritage professionals in Canada interested in participating in an advisroy committee to help guide the development of a new national portal for museum collections. We received a significant amount of interest in participating, and the nominees were overwhelmingly highly qualified, with professional interests and experience well aligned to our project.

Members were selected in aim of ensuring that the committee (1) reflects the wide spectrum of stakeholders the project involves, and (2) possesses the subject matter expertise needed to ensure good guidance of the project.

List of current advisory committee members

Blythe Appleby (Ross Farm Museum)

  • Blythe Appleby is the Collections Manager and Period Clothing Specialist at Ross Farm Museum, Nova Scotia. As a University graduate in History and Heritage Resources Management, she has had over 10 years’ experience in the heritage sector, working in various roles from museum interpretation to exhibit planning. Since 2023, she has managed the Nova Scotia Museum’s vast agricultural artifact collection at Ross Farm Museum, where she is gaining considerable experience working with a variety of collections databases and portals, such as CollectionsIndex+, Nova Scotia Museum’s Collections Online, and NovaMuse. During her tenure, she has developed a passion for documentation and information sharing, and is excited to bring this passion to the advisory committee for CHIN’s national museum collections portal. She represents Ross Farm Museum on provincial committees such as the Nova Scotia Museum’s Collections Management Working Group, and Interpretation Working Group.

Catherine C. Cole (Catherine C. Cole & Associates)

  • Catherine Cole has worked throughout Canada and internationally for more than 30 years. She facilitated consultations for CHIN when the VMC was being established and conducted a review of Artefacts Canada in the early 2000s. She has guest-curated two VMC exhibitions, Before E-Commerce: The History of Mail Order Catalogues in Canada and GWG: Piece by Piece. She has developed Community Collections, virtual sites about Edmonton neighbourhoods – Mill Woods Living Heritage and Edmonton Packingtown. Catherine has managed public collections, guest-curated exhibitions, conducted independent research, and taught museum studies. As a consultant, she reviews material and makes recommendations on the overall direction of museums or projects through strategic planning or program reviews. She has consulted on subjects relating to Indigenous, immigrant, women’s or labour history. She has written several books, including GWG: Piece by Piece (2012), and is currently writing Mill Woods: A City Within a City. Catherine is a member of the Executive Board of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and recently served on the Working Group on Decolonisation and the Jury for the International Award for Sustainable Development Practice in Museums. She is also on the Preservation and Access Committee of the Canada Knowledge Research Network.

Cathy Ritchie (Tourism and Culture, Museums Unit, Government of Yukon)

  • Cathy Ritchie has dedicated her career to Yukon’s cultural heritage, combining more than 25 years of collections management expertise with a deep commitment to supporting museums and First Nation cultural centres. With a BA in History from Concordia University and a Diploma in Applied Museum Studies from Algonquin College, she has built a career grounded in both professional expertise and a genuine passion for preserving and sharing cultural heritage through community-centred approaches. As Collections Management Advisor with the Government of Yukon, Cathy provides leadership, training, and guidance to museums and First Nation cultural centres in collections stewardship, documentation, collections care, and digital heritage initiatives. Her career has included roles with the Yukon Transportation Museum, MacBride Museum, and Parks Canada, giving her a broad understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing cultural organizations. Cathy is particularly proud of leading the development of the Yukon Collections Database, a territory-wide platform that has strengthened collections management and access for museums and First Nation cultural centres across Yukon. Known for her collaborative and thoughtful approach, Cathy values relationship-building, knowledge sharing and helping others succeed. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring Yukon trails, travelling, and curling up with a good book.

Cindy Veilleux (Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal)

  • Cindy Veilleux is Head of Digital Collections at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), where she is working, since 2015, to promote contemporary art through the development of digital content and initiatives that facilitate access to, sharing of, and engagement with the Museum’s collections. She actively participates in committees focused on discoverability and digital innovation, while also helping to strengthen the presence of artists on Wikidata. Her work has supported important digitization, data centralization and standardization initiatives as well as impactful projects such as MACrépertoire, an evolving platform giving acces to a vast ensemble of artworks and ressources related to MAC’s programming and collections. From 2006 to 2014, she held project management and communications positions at the société des musées du Québec, and coordinated the first États Généraux of Québec museums. Between 2005 and 2010, she collaborated with the MAC to elaborate a Cataloguing Guide for New Media Collections for the Documentation and Conservation of the Media Arts Heritage (DOCAM), thereby contributing to the advancement of documentation practices.

Emmanuel Château-Dutier (Department of Art History, Université de Montréal)

  • Emmanuel Château-Dutier is a historian of architecture and Associate Professor in Digital Museology at the Université de Montréal. His research focuses on the administration of public architecture in nineteenth-century France, as well as on digital art history and museology. He has contributed to several major collective research projects in art history that place digital technologies and web-based tools at the heart of scholarly practice. Notably, he directed the digital edition of Antoine Desgodets’ Cours (ANR Desgodets) and is a principal collaborator on the Guides de Paris project within the Labex Les Passés dans le présent. He is currently completing an ANR project with Robert Carvais, Valérie Nègre, and Michela Barbot on Parisian experts in the eighteenth century. He also leads the digital axis of the partnership New uses of collections in art museums* and co-directs the Ouvroir d’histoire de l’art et de muséologie numériques. Within this laboratory, research at the intersection of digital tools, web technologies, art historical scholarship, and museology is actively explored, enabling the design of innovative interfaces and digital frameworks that support new forms of narrative, analysis, and exhibition in both research and museum contexts.

Heather Courtney (National Gallery of Canada)

  • Heather Courtney is a digital collections professional passionate about helping people connect with art, archives, and cultural heritage through meaningful digital stewardship. As Digital Asset Manager at the National Gallery of Canada, she manages the Gallery’s digital asset management system, supports institutional access to high-quality digital images, and helps shape future DAMS strategy and practice through stakeholder consultation. She also oversees digitization priorities and standards and manages the digitization team. Her career has included roles at leading cultural institutions in Canada, Ireland, and the United States, including the National Archives of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, the Getty Research Institute, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Heather brings together technical expertise and a deep respect for the stories held in collections. Her work is grounded in collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to improving access while ensuring that digital collections are cared for thoughtfully and with intention.

Kennedy Neumann (Heritage Branch, BC Ministry of Tourism)

  • Kennedy Neumann is a museum professional specializing in human history collections management, heritage site preservation, and information management. As the Heritage Stewardship Officer for the BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, she leads the modernization of the Provincial Heritage Artifacts Database to improve public access and support collections management and heritage preservation efforts across 11 Provincial Heritage Properties. Previously, Kennedy served as General Collections Team Lead at the Royal BC Museum, where she coordinated a major project to rehouse the museum’s natural and human history collections. Her experience also includes serving as Curator/Manager of a museum on British Columbia’s Northwest Coast, Collections Registrar at Burnaby Village Museum, and various research and public-facing roles with the federal government in Ottawa. Kennedy holds a BA in History and Communications from Carleton University and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Management and Curatorship from Fleming College. Dedicated to community storytelling and heritage stewardship, she is passionate about improving access to collections and strengthening the systems that support their long-term care. She looks forward to contributing her expertise in database modernization, collections management, and heritage preservation to the CHIN Advisory Committee.

Romina Campanella (Hamilton Civic Museums)

  • Romina is a museum professional from Hamilton, Ontario, with experience working in community based institutions in the Toronto, Niagara, and Hamilton regions. She holds a Master of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and a BA in Art History and History from McMaster University. Currently, she is a Collections and Conservation Assistant with the Hamilton Civic Museums, where she supports a major collections recovery initiative by helping to establish a new collections management system and public portal that will encompass collections from several historic sites. Previously, she has held roles in public education, exhibition development, communications, and collections management. Across these positions, her focus has been on meaningfully connecting members of the public with local histories and cultural heritage.

Sean Tudor (Canadian Museum of Nature)

  • Sean Tudor is a museum and collections management leader with more than 20 years of experience stewarding Canada’s national heritage collections. As Head, Collection Services and Information Management at the Canadian Museum of Nature, he leads multidisciplinary teams responsible for conservation, registration, library and archives, collections information, and digital asset management. His work encompasses strategic planning, collection governance, documentation standards, database migration, online access, legal and ethical compliance, provenance, and institutional partnerships. Sean also leads collection-based reconciliation and repatriation initiatives supporting the museum’s commitments. Previously, he held several curatorial and collections roles at Ingenium, contributing to major collection moves, rationalization projects, acquisitions, loans, exhibitions, and research. Sean is an Adjunct Research Professor in Carleton University’s Department of History and has taught or guest lectured in museum studies, public history, digital history, conservation, and information leadership. He brings extensive knowledge of collection management systems, metadata standards, digital stewardship, policy development, and team leadership. His publications and presentations explore natural history, science and technology, digitization, provenance, and born-digital heritage.

Valerie Chartrand (Ingenium)

  • Valerie Chartrand has extensive experience in digital communications, strategic planning, and digital product development within the cultural sector. In her current role at Ingenium, she leads the development and management of digital products for three national museums: the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. Throughout my career, she has also worked for the Canadian Heritage Information Network, Parks Canada, the National Gallery and the Museums of History and War, where she has led and contributed to numerous large-scale digital projects in collaboration with national and international partners. Her work combines creativity and strategic thinking to develop innovative digital initiatives that foster public engagement with heritage and culture.

Last updated: 2026-09-28