John McLaughlin is a Professor of Geomatics Engineering and became UNB's 17th President and Vice-Chancellor in July 2002.

Dr. McLaughlin is a member of the Boards of Directors of Service New Brunswick and the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission, a member of the Premier's Roundtable on eNB and a Fellow of the Instituto Libertad Y Democracia in Peru. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Professor McLaughlin has been a leader in building the North American geomatics industry and has worked extensively overseas on the development of property systems with the World Bank, UNDP and other international agencies. He has authored or co-authored more than two hundred publications, including "Land Administration" and "Geospatial Data Infrastructures" which have recently been published by Oxford University Press.