Women Get On Board Summit

​​Helle Bank Jorgensen is an internationally recognized expert on sustainable business practices, with a 30-year record of turning environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks into innovative and profitable business opportunities. She works with many global Fortune 500 board members and executives, as well as smaller companies and investors.

Helle is the founder and chief executive of Competent Boards, which offers online climate and ESG programs that draw on the experience of over 150 renowned board members, executives, and investors. Hundreds of directors and senior executives have enrolled in these programs to mitigate the risks and seize the opportunities presented by ESG and climate change.

A regular keynote speaker at major events, Helle is also the author of the newly published book Stewards of The Future: A Guide for Competent Boards, an Amazon bestseller. This book shows boards must have the insight and foresight to ask the right questions of management on complex issues such as climate change, ESG, corruption, cybersecurity, human trafficking and supply-chain resilience to realize long-term profits and sustainability.

Helle serves at:

Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence’s Sustainability & ESG Insights Council;
World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network for Corporate Governance, Leadership, and Emerging Multinationals;
His Royal Highness Prince of Wales A4S (Accounting for Sustainability) Global Expert Panel;
The Non-financial Digitisation Working Group of the Impact Management Project (IMP);
The Reuters Panel of Expert Judges for the Responsible Business Awards;
Canadian Climate Governance Experts –- a Commonwealth Climate & Law Initiative.

She has served as the Chair of the European Sustainability Reporting Association (ESRA), the Global Compact Network Canada, Datamaran, and as a member of the Sustainability Advisory Panel of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Sustainability Policy Group of the Institute of European Accountants (FEE).

She trained as a business lawyer and state-authorized public accountant (CPA) in Denmark, and holds a master’s degree in business administration and auditing. She is a former PwC audit and advisory partner in Denmark and the United States, leading the firm’s sustainability and climate practices.

Helle has pioneered corporate reporting of ESG as part of the widening recognition that environmental, social, and governance issues are a crucial contributor to any organization’s success—or failure. She created the world’s first “green account” based on lifecycle assessment, and the first integrated annual report that combines ESG with financial performance. She has worked on natural capital accounting for the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.

In 2020 she was awarded the Global Impact Award and named one of “5 people in ESG to look out for,” and she was recently selected as one of LinkedIn's Top Voices in the Green Economy in the US and Canada for 2022. Helle is also the author of many thought-leading articles.


https://twitter.com/HelleBankJorgen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellebank/
https://competentboards.com/

Sessions

Mary is a Partner in MNP Consulting and leads the Firm’s National Organizational Renewal Practice. Having played global strategic leadership roles as a senior executive for leading international companies and as a partner in top-tier consulting firms, Mary has built a broad set of skills around strategy, sustainability and organizational culture.

Mary serves as a trusted advisor to CEOs and senior executives in the US, Canada and Europe on strategy, culture, governance, and leadership, and has led culture and organization transformation initiatives in multi-billion-dollar companies and crown corporations.
She has held senior executive positions with McDonald’s Corporation in the U.S. and Alcan in Canada. She started her career with the Boston Consulting Group in the U.S. and worked in Canada for McKinsey and Co., Oliver Wyman, and A.T. Kearney.
Her commitment to sustainability over two decades has led to a national leadership role in ESG (Environment, Social and Governance). She currently serves on the Advisory Board for Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research and is the Chair of the Advisory Board of McGill University’s School of Continuing Studies.

She earned an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Sessions

In May 2019, Ms. Hendricks was named Senior Vice-President, Sustainable Business and Enablement and as of May 2021 is EDC’s first Chief Corporate Sustainability Officer (CCSO). As CCSO, her mandate is to align EDC’s focus with the central pillar of its 10-year strategy, ensuring EDC takes a leading stance for Canada and its customers on ESG principles-embedding sustainable business principles and practices for the environment, human rights, social welfare into every EDC line of business, as well as enabling, evolving forward thinking innovations within EDC’s business lines to be more agile, efficient and effective.

Ms. Hendricks joined EDC in 2006. In her previous role as Vice-President WorkingCapital Solutions, she led a cross-Canada team devoted to meeting the working capital needs of small-and medium-sized companies. Prior to this, she led the transformation of EDC’s Financing and Investment groups, which accounts for more than 80% of the net revenue Export Development Canada generates annually. Ms.Hendricks has also led teams serving small businesses and investors in widely varied sectors, from fisheries and agriculture, to health sciences and light manufacturing.

Ms. Hendricks earned an MBA from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from Carleton University. She also holds a Certified Financial PlannerDesignation. In 2007, she received EDC’s Excellence in Team Leadership Award and in2009 was a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 Award. A member of the DigitalOpportunity Trust (DOT) since January 2019and appointed to Chair in June 2021, DOT is a non-profit youth-led movement supporting youth to become innovators and leaders, and to create and apply digital solutions that have positive impact in their communities. She was also the Vice-Chair (2011-2014) and Chair (2014-2019) for the Forum for Young Canadians, a foundation that provides young people with first-hand access to the minds, the procedures and the energy of Parliament Hill. In 2020, she became a board member of the University of Ottawa and holds a seat on their Audit Committee.

In 2017 Ms. Hendricks received the Telfer Business School Trudeau Medal, the highest honor awarded to alumni in recognition of their leadership, initiative and contributions to the business world, the community and their alma matter.

Sessions

Alyssa is a Principal and Co-Founder at irlabs. She has over 15-years of investor relations, capital markets and corporate communications experience. An activist by nature, she has raised over $1 billion of capital, led some of Canada’s most successful activism campaigns, managed M&A transactions and enhanced board governance frameworks. She was formerly Head of Strategy – Operations and Communications at Artis REIT, Vice-President of Capital Markets and Communications at Sandpiper Group and Manager, Investor Relations at Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc. She is known for her agility, creative prose and relentless pursuit of success for her clients.

Sessions

Christine’s career in creating and executing communications strategies and programs to achieve high-value outcomes is extensive and accomplished. She has advised clients on a wide variety of special situations and issues, including proxy battles, hostile take overs, M&A, consent solicitations, corporate governance, executive compensation, and shareholder proposals. She has counseled numerous Boards of Directors, CEOs, corporate secretaries, corporate counsels, investor relations professionals and has spoken at industry conferences on the complexities of influencing shareholder voting in Canada.

Christine began her professional life at a stock transfer and trust company which lead to progressively higher levels of responsibility before being recruited to work as a strategist at Canada’s only (at that time) proxy solicitation firm. Her work since then is a record of entrepreneurial initiative having helped launch two successful shareholder communication firms and a Transfer and Trust Company before becoming the sole founder of Carson Proxy.

Sessions

Norma Beauchamp is an accomplished corporate director, strategic consultant and volunteer. Certified corporate board of director with 30 years of experience in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, virtual healthcare, cannabis and healthcare real estate. An experienced nominating and corporate governance committee chair, Norma provides expertise in corporate strategy, financial and risk management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, transformation/change management and CEO/board succession planning.

Sessions

Kim Stangeby has spent twenty years as an applied strategist in C-suite and advisory roles. Her area of specialization is strategic transformation and change, with a focus on board effectiveness and CEO-board strategic engagement. As Partner and Head of Strategy Consulting, she helps clients implement high-impact organization transformation solutions, including Board advisory, strategic development and planning, and talent strategy.

A decade at McKinsey equipped Kim with a set of robust strategy tools, which she has honed through application across diverse real-world contexts. Her most recent in-house role was as the Chief Strategy Officer and interim Chief Human Resources Officer at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and she currently serves as the Chair of Governance and Human Resources for several boards of a top Canadian private equity firm.

Kim holds a PhD in Biomechanical Engineering and an Honours Bachelors of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering, both from the University of Toronto. She speaks regularly at events and writes articles under the banner “Strategic Decluttering”, to improve the strategic dialogue between CEOs and boards.

Sessions

Andrew is a senior partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and a recognized expert on corporate governance, executive compensation and shareholder activism. He leads the Osler corporate governance practice, advising public, private, not-for-profit organizations and crown corporations on director responsibilities, disclosure, insurance and indemnification, stakeholder engagement, and other governance matters. He is an ICD.D member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel. He serves on the Greater Toronto Area Chapter Executive of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Advisory Board for CPA Canada’s annual Conference for Audit Committees. Previously, he served on the Risk Oversight and Governance Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and was a staff member of the Toronto Stock Exchange Report on Corporate Governance (Dey Committee).
A prolific writer, speaker and commentator on new developments, he has co-authored leading Canadian publications on stakeholder engagement and shareholder engagement released by CPA Canada in 2018 and 2012, respectively. He is also a co-author of the joint Osler and ICD publications Financial distress – The board’s role (2019) and The Board’s role in crisis management (2016).
Andrew launched Osler’s Diversity Disclosure Practices report in 2015. Published annually from 2015 to 2021, the Osler Diversity Disclosure Practices report is the preeminent publication on the diversity practices of senior leaders of Canadian public companies.

Sessions

Ms. Wendy Kei currently serves as Board Chair for Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG), and is the Chair of the Audit Committee for both Karora Resources Inc. (TSX: KRR) and Noranda Income Fund (TSX: NIF.UN).

Ms. Kei is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA, FCA), a Fellow from the Institute of Corporate Directors (F.ICD) and holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. Ms. Kei was honoured as BMO Celebrate Women on Boards 2022 Honouree, in 2020, was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and in 2016 was selected as a Diversity 50 2016 Candidate by the Canadian Board Diversity Council.

Sessions

Sessions