Sara is widely recognized as a leader in governance, ethics, human rights, risk and sustainability, and is an experienced board director.
Sara is Senior Director, Reconciliation & Human Rights at RBC Royal Bank of Canada, where she leads a team responsible for RBC’s Truth & Reconciliation Office and Global Human Rights Program. She has held a broad range of senior leadership roles in the financial services sector, including leading regulatory and financial crimes compliance, as well as privacy, ethics, conduct, and anti-corruption risk and oversight functions. She is a lawyer and earned her undergraduate and MBA degrees at the University of Toronto, her LLB at Queen’s University, and her LLM at Cambridge University. Sara holds the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D designation, the Graduate Diploma in Social Responsibility & Sustainability from the University of Toronto, the Osgoode Certificate in Legal & Regulatory Risk Management for Financial Institutions, the Certificate in ESG and Climate Law, also from Osgoode, and the Certificate in Adjudicative Competencies from the Ontario Bar Association.
She currently serves as Chair of an Administrative Tribunal (City of Toronto Compliance Audit Committee), member of the Ontario Internal Audit Committee (Community Services Sector), and Chair of the Advisory Board at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto for the Graduate Diploma in Social Responsibility & Sustainability. Her previous board roles include serving as Board Director and Audit Committee Chair for North York General Hospital Foundation, Public Director and Governance Committee Chair of the board of The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, board director at the Toronto Hydro Corporation, the Canadian National Exhibition, the University of Toronto Governing Council Business Board, Scotia Insurance Agency, and Humewood House.
Sara is a faculty member with Governance Professionals of Canada and teaches corporate ethics. She is a frequent conference speaker and is a past lecturer at Queen’s Law School and the Rotman School of Management. She is a long-standing mentor to University of Toronto undergraduate students.
Sara received the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada Award in 2024 and was previously named to the Diversity 50 by the Canadian Board Diversity Council.