Full Biography
Mohamed Lachemi
President and Vice-Chancellor
Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Mohamed Lachemi is president and vice-chancellor of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), first appointed in 2016. He has led transformational expansion at the university of national and international significance, been recognized as one of the city’s most influential people, and championed a university culture of entrepreneurship and challenging the status quo.
As President, he has led the development and creation of ground-breaking schools in law and medicine, with each sharing a deliberately innovative focus embracing technology, equity and inclusion, and a mandate to reach the underserved. In other significant advances, President Lachemi has overseen the launch of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, a national centre for cybersecurity, and under his direction Toronto Metropolitan University was awarded leadership of the Future Skills Centre consortium, which aims to ensure Canadians develop the skills they need in the new economy.
Born in a remote village in Algeria, and fluent in English, Arabic, and French, President Lachemi has led a new strategy to build a global urban university. Innovation Zones have been established in Egypt, India, Japan, Vietnam, and the Caribbean based on the success of Toronto Metropolitan University’s DMZ – one of the world’s top university-based incubators. In addition, the university has established a transnational approach to education, opening a campus in Cairo in 2022.
President Lachemi’s deep commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is marked by his work toward reconciliation with the Indigenous community, and his efforts to combat anti-Black, anti-Asian and all forms of racism. His creation of the Standing Strong Task Force to address the legacy of the university’s namesake, Egerton Ryerson, resulted in the historic and bold decision to rename the university, along with 21 other action-oriented recommendations including more support for Indigenous and Black scholarship and a commitment to establish learning programs for students, faculty and staff on Indigenous history and the Indian Residential School System. In 2023 TMU was ranked #1 on Forbes’ list of Canada’s Best Employers for Diversity.
As the president of a distinctly urban university in the heart of Canada’s largest city, President Lachemi has amplified the university’s dedication to city and community building with a new Master Campus Plan embracing development of vibrant, inclusive and high-quality space that promotes the health and well-being of the campus and surrounding community.
President Lachemi joined Toronto Metropolitan University in 1998 as a professor of civil engineering, and has served in progressively senior roles, including dean of the faculty of engineering and architectural science, and provost and vice-president academic.
In addition to his record as an academic leader, President Lachemi has earned international recognition for his pioneering research. His studies in high performance materials and advanced technologies are inspired by his childhood experience in North Africa, when he and his family survived a devastating earthquake that killed more than 4,000 people. The vexing question of why some buildings were levelled and others undamaged launched his interest in engineering and a quest to save lives through better construction. He held a Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Construction from 2002-10. Funding sources for his work include the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Innovation Trust, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Hydro-Québec and various industrial partners.
An award-winning teacher and mentor, he has acted as supervisor, co-supervisor or advisor for over 80 Masters and PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and research associates. Publishing in English and French, President Lachemi has more than 320 peer-reviewed technical publications, book chapters and conference proceedings and extensive contributions as an editor and technical reviewer. He has delivered more than 70 keynote addresses and invited presentations around the world.
President Lachemi is Past Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities, Chair of the Finance Committee of Universities Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for Trillium Health Partners, Rogers Communications Inc., DMZ Ventures and WUSC (World University Service of Canada). He was a member of the National Research Council from 2018 to 2021.
Among his recent honours, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario (2022), the province's highest civilian honour recognizing extraordinary contributions. He has also been named one of Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants by Canadian Immigrant Magazine (2022), one of the city’s Top 50 Most Influential People by Toronto Life Magazine (2021), was recognized as one of LinkedIn Top Voices, Education (2019), and was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by Ontario Tech University (2021).
A graduate of L’Université des Sciences et de la Technologie d’Oran in Algeria (civil engineering, with distinction) and L'Université de Sherbrooke (MASc and PhD, Structural Engineering), Dr. Lachemi worked with Concrete Canada as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate, followed by a visiting professorship in Applied Science at Artois University in France.