The Royal BC Museum operates in five 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 the Past President of the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada (ANHMC) and a member of the Board of the Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums. Additionally, she is an active volunteer with several community organizations in Greater Victoria.
Gary Mitchell
Director, 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 oversees property management and site renewal, security services, admissions and customer service, volunteer services and, most recently, marketing and communications 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 Willis
Director, Exhibitions and Visitor Experience
"Museums can change people’s lives by revealing worlds they never imagined. A powerful museum experience for a child can establish a sense of wonder that lasts 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 led many successful major exhibition projects, 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. In his personal time he enjoys traveling to deserts and editing video productions. He sees museums as places that change lives... that take us out of the everyday and invite us form new awareness of the world and the people around us.
Faye Zinck
Chief 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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