CERN Appoints Next Ombuds

Rolf Heuer, the Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced that Vincent Vuillemin, CERN's first Ombuds, will step down after three and a half years of service.  In January Sudeshna Datta-Cockerill will assume the role.

Heuer praised Vuillemin's work to establish the office:

His regular messages in the Bulletin and on the Ombuds blog are widely read, and he has integrated the function into the wider world through establishing contacts with Ombuds in other organisations. Each year, he has brought over 90 cases to successful resolution. This relatively low number, a very small fraction of the CERN population, along with the fact that all cases have been resolved, comes as no surprise to me. While not wishing to underplay Vincent’s role, I am convinced that everyone working at CERN has the best interests of the organization at heart, and usually all that’s needed to resolve a conflict is a gentle, and timely, nudge in the right direction.

Datta-Cockerill is currently the Diversity Programme Leader at CERN.  She has worked at the organization for nearly four decades, primarily in the Human Resources field.  She graduated from Smith College and earned a Master's from Webster University in Geneva.  She also has a certificate in Executive Coaching.  (CERN News; LinkedIn.)

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