Property developer Justin Ladha named as new MUN board of regents chair

Chief Executive Officer of KMK Capital Inc, Justin Ladha, is MUN's new board of regents chair. (Darryl Murphy/CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's Education Department has appointed property developer Justin Ladha as the new chair of Memorial University's board of regents.

Ladha, the chief executive officer of KMK Capital, has been a member of MUN's board of regents since 2023.

Ladha, who has a bachelor of commerce from MUN, replaces former chair Glenn Barnes, who resigned last week.

Barnes came under fire this summer after forwarding an email in support of pro-Palestine protesters from a former student to her father.

Alumnus Becky Winsor, 35, told The Canadian Press she wasn't sure what Barnes was hoping to achieve when he forwarded the email at 3:44 a.m. on June 22 to her father.

The email Winsor sent Barnes demanded Memorial University divest from "weapons manufacturing companies implicated in the genocide in Gaza."

Barnes said he had received more than 100 similar emails as part of a campaign organized by the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the Canadian Federation of Students. In his email reply to Winsor's father, Barnes said, he wanted to let parents know that he knows "just what their kids are doing."

In a review process at a special meeting on Aug. 13, the board — which is made up of faculty, community leaders and students — determined Barnes's email was a breach of privacy and decided to issue a letter of reprimand. The action was reported to the provincial information and privacy commissioner. The board also decided to suspend Barnes until he made a public apology for the privacy breach and committed to completing privacy training.

Last Thursday, Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell announced Barnes's resignation. A MUN spokesperson said the university only learned he was stepping down when the department announced it.

MUN's board of regents, alongside the university's senate, is responsible for all matters related to programming, qualifications of employees, and other matters related to the institution's best interest.

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