The Empire Club of Canada
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Getting It Done: The Women Who Have Thrived Against All Odds
A Celebration of International Women’s Day
Mining, Real Estate and Construction are some of the most important sectors driving Canada’s growth and future economic prosperity. They are also industries that consistently struggle to attract diverse talent at all levels, particularly women.
As Canada faces a labour supply shortage, now more than ever, we need competent women leaders to be empowered to drive Canada’s growth. We are seeing positive changes and that’s no accident. Meet the women who are rewriting the script in these traditionally male-dominated core sectors.
This conversation will be moderated by Dr. Deborah Rosati, Founder & CEO, Women Get On Board Inc. Come and hear the inspiring stories of Arlene Dedier, Principal & Executive Vice President, Canadian Practice Leader, Project Management Services, Avison Young; Julie Di Lorenzo, President, Mirabella Development Corporation and Chantal Gosselin, Director, Canadian Mineral Industry Education Foundation, who have overcome challenges and shattered barriers.
Please reserve your tickets and join us on Wednesday March 6 to celebrate International Women’s Day.
With over 30 years of experience, Arlene Dedier has an extensive background in architecture and construction in the residential, commercial, industrial, retail, and hospitality industry. She has a proven ability to oversee numerous multi-million-dollar projects simultaneously, directing ground-up construction, tenant fit-out and renovation projects.
With a lifelong interest in design, Arlene began a career in architecture and real estate development following the completion of her architecture degree at Carleton University’s School of Architecture.
From the start, Arlene focused on managing the development and construction of tenant fit outs and base buildings, establishing herself as a designer and project manager for a large U.S. development firm. Her entire career has centered around working with commercial clients to deliver them the real estate spaces they need. Known as a firefighter, she is frequently brought in by other firms to rescue projects that have gone awry. Her ability to work seamlessly, with diverse teams from brokers to CSuite stakeholders, to internal resourcing allows her to quickly determine a project’s issue and identify solutions.
Arlene has a long history of service within her community and CRE industry as a past president of the Washington Real Estate Group, Board member of the DC based Spanish Education Development Center, and former member of the Sponsorship Committee of the African American Real Estate Professionals and Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). Today she continues collaborating with the community through her speaking engagements, Trustee for the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Foundation and Toronto CREW’s Inclusive, Equity, Diversity, and Allyship (IDEA) Committee. Her charisma paired with her deep industry knowledge makes her a natural leader for the Canadian Project Management Practice at Avison Young, bringing an innate ability to motivate her project teams and provide meaningful insight into technical issues for clients. Arlene is also the recipient of the Catalyst Canada Honours 2020 Business Leader award, which recognizes exceptional role models who are accelerating progress for women in the workplace. 2023 Connect CRE Recipient of Canadian Women’s Real Estate Award
Julie Di Lorenzo is the President of Mirabella Development Corporation, a Real Estate Development company and General Construction Contractor in Ontario, and a legacy company of Diamante. Ms. Di Lorenzo has been self- employed in the industry since 1982 as Contractor on such projects as Empire Plaza Condominiums and Terminal Three International Airport, as Developer/Builder of the following projects:
520 Kingston Rd., for Cityhome, LIUNA Social Housing Development in Ottawa, Developer/Builder of One Balmoral Avenue, 5-23 Balmoral Ave., The Royalton at 801 Bay Street, 2 Roxborough St. East, Domus in Yorkville, Phoebe on Queen, a joint venture with Wittington Properties, One City Hall, Condominium Development in joint venture with Hon Kwok Land Investment Co., Hong Kong, The Florian Condominium Development at Bay and Davenport – now considered one of the most prestigious buildings in Toronto – and more recently, The Diamond Project in North York, which was completed and registered in February 2022 and Mirabella Condominiums, which is comprised of two towers that registered in November/December 2022 and is targeting LEED Gold and TGS v2 Tier 2. Diamante projects won the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Project of the Year in 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively. This had never been accomplished before.
Ms. Di Lorenzo has been the recipient of multiple prestigious awards:
2023, Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour.
2022, Premier of Ontario Task Force on Housing Affordability participant.
2022, BILD Riley Brethour Leadership Award for exemplifying outstanding and consistent professional achievement and leadership
2021, Italian Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Businesswoman of the Year.
2016, BILD, (Industry) Hall of Fame for her leadership in the Real Estate and Development Industry.
2005, Italian Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award, the first woman to receive the award.
2003, Lady of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem by Pope John Paul II for philanthropic work.
Ms. Gosselin is a passionate and seasoned mining industry executive with three decades of expertise in combined mining operations and capital market. Her engagement in the financial landscape spans a spectrum from mutual fund and private equity portfolio management to sell-side analyst, including positions such as Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Goodman Investment Counsel and Senior Mining Analyst at Sun Valley Gold LLP.
Beyond her financial expertise, Ms. Gosselin has hands-on experience in mine-site management accross Canada, Peru, and Nicaragua. She has been involved in both underground and open-pit mines, gaining exposure and adapting to rich and diverse cultural and social environments.
Ms. Gosselin holds a Master of Business Administration from Concordia University and a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering from Laval University. Furthermore, she enhanced her governance acumen by completing the Institute of Corporate Director program.
Currently, Ms. Gosselin plays an active role on the board of four TSX-listed companies within the natural resource sectors. Her result-oriented style and multifaceted background, combining financial acuity with operational insights, serves as a strong foundation for her contribution to the strategic direction of these organizations.
Deborah Rosati, an award-winning entrepreneur and corporate director, has been defined in three
interconnected ways throughout her 35-year career – as a corporate governance champion, catalyst for
change and community builder.
As the founder and CEO of Women Get On Board Inc. (WGOB), an 850-member social-purpose
company, Deborah is building a community of the next generation of women corporate directors. WGOB
amplifies the voices of women leaders, board members and professionals across Canada through
education, mentorship and allyship. It’s been called The Power of Three – one woman in the boardroom
is a token, two is a presence, and three is a voice.
Deborah is a leading and serving corporate director, currently chairing the board of Profound Impact
Corporation and has chaired many public company audit committees and nominating & corporate
governance committees. In addition, Deborah has led and served on numerous special committees with
various mandates (including going public, going private, M&A, restructuring and special investigations).
Deborah’s passion for good governance and board diversity is rooted in her board journey when she was
often the only woman in the boardroom. These first-hand experiences cemented Deborah’s conviction
that having more women on boards makes better business sense.
Never satisfied with the status quo, Deborah always seeks ways to challenge expectations and drive
change. She brings an environmental, social and governance (ESG) lens to every board she serves on,
as she believes in the power and responsibility of business to change our world for the better.
As a visionary leader, Deborah recently launched Women Funding Women Inc. (WFW) with her cofounders, Sherry Shannon Vanstone and Lara Zink, to bridge the funding gap for female founders.
Deborah’s commitment to sustainable change and empowerment, deep governance knowledge, financial
expertise and dynamic personality have made her a sought-after thought leader and speaker. Deborah’s
thought leadership on corporate governance, sustainability, EDI and social impact is profiled on her
website, deborahrosati.ca