Paul Vincett has a long history with the CAP. He was President of the CAP in 1995-96 after having completed a term on Council as Chair of the Division of Industrial and Applied Physics (1989-90) and Director of Corporate Members (1990-1992). During his term as President, and then Past President, Paul led the CAP's activities in response to the 1995 NSERC reallocation exercise in which physics had not fared very well. These efforts included a pivotal role in the evolution of the CAP-NSERC Physics Liaison Committee, and the initiation and guidance of the 1996-97 CAP-NSERC Review of Canadian Academic Physics (including the sole authorship of the Economic Impact section of this review). This led to a considerably better position for physics during the 1998 Reallocation exercise. During his term as President, Dr. Vincett also assumed the position of Chair of the CAP's Science Policy Committee where he made it his priority to strengthen the CAP's science policy related activities and involvement in the Canadian Consortium for Research. He also got involved in a major initiative related to the practice of the profession of physics, leading to a negotiated agreement between the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers and a consortium of natural sciences formed under the CAP's leadership (the Natural Science Societies of Canada). In 2000, Dr. Vincett rejoined the CAP Council as Director of Full Members and then added Director of Communications to his responsibilities and held these positions until 2005. He initiated the CAP's program of News Bulletins to keep the community informed of what the CAP is doing for the benefit of the community. In 2008, Paul agreed to return to Council as the Chair of the Science Policy Committee. In the summers of 2009 and 2010, Paul led the drafting of the CAP's first ever briefs to the House of Commons Finance Committee. In both years, he also took responsibility for drafting the brief which the Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) submitted to the Finance Committee. In 2000, he received the Peter Kirkby Award for outstanding service to Canadian physics. In May 2010, he became Chair of the CCR, which is the largest organization in Canada whose primary concerns are the funding of research in all sectors and support for post-secondary education.

Dr. Vincett received his bachelors degree in physics and his Ph.D. in low temperature dielectric loss from Cambridge University, England. He held a PDF in molecular spectroscopy at Simon Fraser Univ. and spent four years studying thin organic films at the ICI Corporate Laboratory in England.

During 20 years at Xerox, he held a variety of research and management positions, principally in the areas of thin films, imaging technology, and technology transfer. He spun-off two companies from Xerox, and was President of one of them for 11 years. He spent 5 years teaching entrepreneurship in the school of business and economics at the Wilfrid Laurier University. He was NSERC Group Chair of Physics and Astronomy for four years, a member of the Advisory Committee on TRIUMF (ACOT) for 5 years, and chaired the NSERC Subatomic Five-Year Plan Committee in 2001-2002. He has been a member of the Board of the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations since its inception in 1999. He has published more than 50 scientific papers and holds a number of patents.