The Empire Club of Canada
Thursday, March 9, 2023
The Empire Club of Canada Presents:
Women Who Lead: Celebrating Our Progress Toward Gender Parity on Boards and Charting the Path Forward
The Empire Club of Canada’s annual Women Who Lead International Women’s Day event will be a celebration of significant milestones reached in our work towards achieving equal representation of women on corporate boards. According to Osler’s annual Diversity Disclosure Practice report (2022), women now occupy one-quarter of board seats across TSX-listed corporations and for the first time in the report’s history, S&P/TSX Composite Index companies have no all-male boards.
As we celebrate and recognize the halfway point to gender parity on boards, join our panel discussion with those who are leading the way, sitting on boards with 50% or more women. Hear their insights and thoughts on how we made it this far, progress yet to be made on board diversity and the future of women’s representation on boards.
*The content presented is free of charge but please note that the Empire Club of Canada retains copyright. Neither the speeches themselves nor any part of their content may be used for any purpose other than personal interest or research without the explicit permission of the Empire Club of Canada.*
*Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the speakers or panelists are those of the speakers or panelists and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official views and opinions, policy or position held by The Empire Club of Canada.*
Lori-Ann Beausoleil is a recently retired senior partner from PwC where she led the national Ethics, Compliance and Governance practice focusing on regulatory compliance, ethical business conduct and governance and was a Real Estate Advisory Partner. She brings over 36 years of risk, governance, financial, operational and regulatory experience to the Boards she serves on.
She is currently a Board Director for a variety of organizations in both Canada and the US. She serves on Boards that are listed on the TSX60, TSX and NYSE, as well as private entities such as Neo Exchange. She is also passionate about education and is a member of the Dean’s Council at the Ted Rogers School of Business and is the Chair of the Accounting Program at George Brown College. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Mentorship Program at Women Get on Board. Lori was recently recognized by Directors&Boards as a “Director to Watch in 2022.”
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is a member of the Canadian Chartered Professional Accountants and is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant of Ontario.
Ms. Coyles is a director and member of the Governance, Investment and Conduct Review Committee and the Management Resources Committee of Sun Life Financial Inc., as well as a director and member of the Audit Committee and of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee at Corus Entertainment Inc. From March 2019 to February 2020, she was a board member of Hudson’s Bay Company prior to it becoming a private company. Prior to becoming a corporate director, Ms. Coyles was Chief Strategic Officer at LoyaltyOne Co. from 2008 to 2012 and, before that, spent most of her career as a management consultant and eventually as a partner at McKinsey & Company. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government). She is a graduate of the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and completed a CERT certificate in cybersecurity oversight from Carnegie Mellon University and the Board Oversight Climate Change program offered by the ICD.
Committee:
Audit Committee
Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee
Jennifer Reynolds is the new CEO of Women Corporate Directors (WCD); a global network of 2500 female corporate directors serving on over 8500 corporate boards worldwide.
Jennifer’s 20 year career in the financial service industry has included senior roles in investment banking, venture capital, and global risk management. Prior to joining WCD, Jennifer was the President and CEO of Toronto Finance International (TFI), a public private partnership between Canada’s three level of government, the financial services sector and academia.
Jennifer is a Director on the Board of Citibank Canada, Board of the Canada Development Investment Corporation (CDEV), and Director on the board of Women’s College Hospital Foundation. In 2015, Jennifer was named a Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner.
Jennifer is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Women’s Leadership program, and she received her MBA from McGill University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Economics and Political Since from McGill University. Jennifer also holds the Institute of Corporate Directors Designation.
Ms. Tang is a senior finance executive and corporate director with 25 years of experience in finance and business leadership. Ms. Tang’s experience spans over both publicly traded and private companies operating in Canada, US, or globally. Ms. Tang is an ICD.D, CPA, CA and CFA and holds a Master of Science in Accounting degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She is currently the CFO of Skyservice Investments Inc. for Canada and US, which is a leading business aviation company. Prior to Skyservice, Ms. Tang was the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and held progressively senior finance executive positions with Dream Global REIT, Symphony Senior Living Inc., Chartwell Retirement Residences, Waterfront Toronto and KPMG. Ms. Tang is a Trustee of Dream Office REIT (TSX: D.UN), a large office REIT where she serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee, and a member of the board of ADENTRA Inc. (TSX: ADEN), a large distributor of architectural wood products in North America. In her community, she sits on the board of governors for a school in Toronto and serves as a community member of the Capital Development Advisory Committee for the North York General Hospital in Toronto.