Image: Paola Baca, Managing Director, Blusson QMI.

Paola Baca is Blusson QMI’s Managing Director and oversees the Institute’s overall administrative, operational, and partnership strategy. She leads Blusson QMI’s diverse team of professional staff, who ensure QMI has the talent, infrastructure, and resources required to undertake world-leading research in quantum materials and forge impactful partnerships with industry and government.

Paola is deeply committed to co-creating engaging, inclusive, people-centred communities that thrive in the face of ongoing change. Prior to joining QMI, she served as the Associate Director of UBC’s Undergraduate Admissions Office (Enrolment Services). She has also held leadership roles at the Sauder School of Business and the UBC International Student Initiative.

With over two decades of leadership experience in higher education, her expertise spans strategic enrolment management, data-driven leadership, student services, change management, and international student recruitment.

She holds an M.Ed. in Higher Education and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science with International Relations from UBC and is an alumnus of the BC Legislative Internship Program. Paola is also the Leadership Campaign Co-Chair of UBC’s United Way Executive Team and an internal UBC coach. She was awarded UBC’s highest staff award, the President’s Service Excellence Award in 2014.

Connect with Paola on LinkedIn here.

Image: Paola Baca (left) moderating a panel discussion on Industry Associations at the 2024 Inside Quantum Technology featuring Lisa Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Quantum Industry Canada; Kevin (June-Koo) Rhee, CEO/CTO of Qunova Computing, Inc., and Professor of Electrical Engineering at KAIST; and Hiroaki Tezuka, Chair of the Global Consortium Alliances Working Group at Q-STAR.