As we come to the close of a difficult year, we learned about the loss of two dear colleagues in our evaluation community in Canada, who have given so generously not only to the work of evaluators in Canada, but around the globe. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of John Mayne and Marie Gervais. The Universalia team has had the great privilege of collaborating with John and Marie and benefiting from their wisdom and experience over the past decades.
John Mayne was a trusted Associate and advisor to Universalia who always took the time to provide the insights and coaching required by our team in the context of challenging mandates. He did so in his trademark style, always so personable and imbued with kindness. Not a week goes by in which we do not refer to, and draw on, his work on theories of change, contribution analysis, managing for results and so many other areas. Through this legacy, there is no doubt that he will continue to push our thinking to come up with ever more meaningful performance measurement practices that are relevant to the current context.
Marie Gervais was a true evaluation icon, both in Canada and abroad. She was a fierce and dedicated advocate for the worldwide recognition of evaluation as a profession, in her capacity as board member of Société Québécoise d’Évaluation de Programme (SQÉP) and the Reseau Francophone de l’Evaluation (RFE), as co-founder of the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) and EvalPartners, and as a pillar of EvalYouth and the Francophone Network of Emerging Evaluators. Throughout the years, many of us at Universalia have had the opportunity to closely collaborate with her and we all remember her immense wit, her genuine kindness and her constant willingness to unselfishly mentor those who crossed her path. There is no doubt that her legacy will continue to inspire generations of evaluators, young and older, all around the world.