Evelyn is stepping down and Justin is stepping up!

Evelyn McLellan joined Artefactual Systems in 2008 and became President in 2013. The company has grown significantly under her guidance, as have Archivematica and AtoM, the open-source projects Artefactual develops and maintains. Evelyn has decided to step down as President and move into semi-retirement; this means staying on at Artefactual as a part-time Systems Archivist and Metadata Specialist, allowing her to continue to work with the team while focusing on technical and client work.

Justin Simpson, the current Director of Archivematica Technical Services, will be assuming the role of Managing Director. Justin joined Artefactual in 2012 as a Senior Software Developer, and became Director of Archivematica Technical Services the following year. In that role, Justin led the design and development processes for the Archivematica project, helping to define and implement a digital preservation software system that is now in use around the world.

Many people in the heritage and academic research library communities are familiar with Justin, as he has spoken at numerous conferences over the years, participated in Archivematica camps in North America and beyond, and guided a variety of large-scale client projects in technically challenging environments. Justin is an advocate for openness and collaboration, and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the work that Artefactual does in the cultural heritage sector internationally. We are excited to see him taking on this new role, which starts on February 1st.