Mary-Ann Bell
Master’s Degree in Telecommunications, 1987
Engineer and Corporate Director
Recipient of the 2026 Starburst Award
“I've always wanted to help promote science.”
For Mary-Ann Bell, science has always held a special place in her life. From a very young age, she says she was “fascinated by the world of science” and wanted to gain a deep understanding of it, even though she was more interested in management than in research. Her time at INRS would allow her to bring these two worlds together: a solid scientific education and a career marked by management, organizational transformation, and, later, governance.
Although she is already working in the telecommunications field, Mary-Ann Bell hopes to deepen her knowledge through a master’s program that includes a research project. The INRS is a natural choice, particularly because it has a center dedicated to telecommunications and because the company she works for supports the program. She finds a close-knit environment there: her cohort consists of only a dozen students, which fosters close relationships with the faculty researchers and a strong sense of mutual support.
Her time at INRS allowed her, above all, to gain an understanding of science that would become a real asset in her career as a manager. For years, she would work in an industry profoundly transformed by technological and scientific advances. “This knowledge base really helped me see the industry and its development from a much broader perspective,” she says. This education gave her the tools she needed not only to understand the origins of the major transformations affecting her sector, but also to anticipate them and help organizations adapt to them.
Her connection with the INRS did not end when she graduated. A few years after completing her studies, she became a member of the institution’s board of directors and served on it for about 15 years. She then chaired the board for five years, after also having led its audit committee. “I have almost more experience as a board member at INRS than I do as a student,” she notes with a smile. For her, this experience has been a true education in governance.
This involvement has allowed her, in particular, to interact with people from very different backgrounds and to better understand the challenges associated with governing a research institution.
Her governance experience has since continued across several organizations. In particular, she chairs the board of directors of Énergir and those of other organizations where technological issues play a significant role. This continuity between science, technology, management, and governance reflects the training she received at INRS and the way she views her role: to gain a deep understanding of transformations in order to better support the organizations that must navigate them.
Today, Mary-Ann Bell takes a particularly broad view of her career path. From her early years in telecommunications to her senior leadership and governance roles, she believes that her scientific background gave her a head start in understanding a constantly changing world. “It’s a foundation that has truly enabled me to contribute proactively and positively to the transformation of our industry,” she says.
She reminds students that a research-based education opens up numerous opportunities and helps them develop skills that are useful in a wide variety of professional contexts. Her own career path is a telling example of this: that of a graduate who has successfully applied scientific rigor to governance, innovation, and the strategic development of organizations.
[Interviewed in April 2026.]