Sylvain Laporte


Sylvain Laporte is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran who is currently serving as the President of the Canadian Space Agency.
Sylvain Laporte was appointed as the 11th of the President of the Canadian Space Agency. On the 27 February, 2015 he announced he will leave the role of President of the Canadian Space Agency after five years.

Biography

Sylvain Laporte was born in Quebec, Canada. Due to his father serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, he grew in various areas in Canada including Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario but also in Lahr, Germany. Sylvain Laporte's favorite hobbies include major renovations and fixing cars.
Sylvain Laporte started his career after getting a Bachelor's degree in Computer science and Master's degree in Computer engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada, Sylvain Laporte earned his two degrees while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1978-1989 as an Aerospace Engineer.
After leaving the CAF, Sylvain Laporte joined Canada Post as the Director of Information Technology. He held this post for two years before becoming Director for Retail. He held this role for five years. He was then promoted to the Director of Logistics, which he held for two years.
After leaving Canada Post in 2007, Laporte was hired as Chief Informatics Officer for Industry Canada. Laporte held this role for two years before becoming Executive Director, Integrated Technologies Office within Industry Canada.
In April 2011, Laporte was hired as Chief executive officer of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, which he held for four years until March of 2015. In March 2015, Sylvain Laporte was appointed as the 11th President of the Canadian Space Agency, taking over from Luc Brule who was serving as Interim President. On October the 21st 2019, Sylvain Laporte appeared at the International Astronautical Federation alongside representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Roscosmos and the Indian Space Research Organisation.
He announced in 2020 that he would leave the role of President of the Canadian Space Agency. When having a conversation about leaving the role of President of the Canadian Space Agency, he said that it was “was probably one of the most difficult conversations that took me the longest to figure out.”