Canadian Society of Corporates Secretaries bestows Excellence in Governance Awards at annual conference
The Excellence in Governance Awards/Prix d'excellence en gouvernance were announced on August 24 at a gala dinner that opened the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries’ 16th Annual Corporate Governance Conference in Banff, Alberta.
BC Cancer Foundation and MTS Allstream shared the award for best overall corporate governance and Royal Bank of Canada was recognized for best use of technology in governance, risk and compliance and for best practices in strategic planning, oversight and value creation by the board.
Other awards went to ATB Financial for best sustainability, ethics and environmental governance program and for best approach to board and committee support. Bombardier won for best stakeholder engagement by a governance team, while Hamilton Community Foundation was honored for having best practices to enhance boardroom diversity. Sylvia Groves, president and creative director of Calgary-based Governance Studio -- and a former director and the past chair of CSCS -- received the Joyce Borden-Reed distinguished contribution award and Stephen Jarislowsky and Claude Lamoureux, who co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, received the Peter Dey governance achievement award.
CSCS was assisted in the shortlisting process by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association. The final award winners were selected by a jury panel that included Geoffrey D Creighton, senior vice-president, general counsel and secretary and chief compliance officer at IGM Financial, Gigi Dawe, principal, research guidance and support leader for corporate oversight and governance at Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, Smoothwater Capital Corp CEO Stephen Griggs, Sylvia Groves, Richard Leblanc, associate law professor of governance and ethics at York University, Spencer Stuart Canada President Andrew MacDougall, Paul Schneider, manager of corporate governance for Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and Watson Founder and President Elizabeth Watson,QC. The judging facilitator was Brendan Sheehan,founder and president of The Illawong Group and Paradigm Capital Chairman Peter Dey served as an honorary judge.
The CSCS conference will end on August 27.
