Experience

Henry's

• Canada
• Retail
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Chief Executive Officer

  • 2015 - Present

  I took on the role of Henry’s CEO in 2015, transforming the business at a time when the digital camera market was under significant pressure. Within my first year, Henry’s was more profitable than it had ever been. Working with the new executive team I recruited, we developed a strategy to help the company thrive in the short and long term. The new strategy was wide-reaching, involving real estate, store formats, merchandising, people management and more. One of the most important changes was to make Henry’s more welcoming and accessible to a broader audience, particularly beginners and female creators. To be successful, Henry’s had to become an inclusive place where people could develop their skills and talk to experts in an encouraging, collaborative environment. Our strategy was to refocus Henry’s on the passion and creativity of photography - which was exactly what our customers wanted.We have also diversified into content creation, serving a wider community, including podcasters, YouTubers, and other digital storytellers. We’re providing more services and expertise to our customers, and advancing innovations such as PrizmCare, our member subscription service. We continue to build our digital platform to connect our community of creators together to share ideas and collaborate.Like many retailers, Henry’s was hard-hit by COVID-19. We made the very difficult but strategic decision to proactively restructure our business under the Business and Insolvency Act, ensuring the least negative impact on our people and our stores. We pivoted quickly to accelerate our long-term strategy, enhancing our IT infrastructure and ecommerce capabilities to allow Henry’s to compete online with retail giants. Restructuring has proven to be exactly the right decision. While difficult in the short term, it has enabled us to emerge stronger for the long term. I’m extraordinarily proud to be leading this incredible team and can’t wait to see what the future will bring.

• Project Manager and VP Strategy

  • 2009 - 2015

  I joined Henry’s in 2009 as a Project Manager tasked with tackling strategic projects to benefit and strengthen the business. My background as a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) allowed me to take a deep look at the business and tackle projects that had been neglected or not even considered before. At the time, the Henry’s business was siloed, and I worked hard to effect change across multiple business areas in order to have a wide-reaching impact. One of the first things I looked at was how to bring departments closer to one another in collaboration. I also helped the company establish a rental arm, while eliminating other less-profitable lines of business.Having developed and implemented strategic initiatives across many areas of the business, my natural progression was to lead the entire portfolio. I stepped into the role of Vice-President of Strategy, which gave me an even stronger angle from which to build overall brand strategy for Henry’s.



Morningstar Sustainalytics

• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Analyst

  • 2006 - 2009

  Sustainalytics is an environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment research firm. My background in international development and corporate social responsibility allowed me to play a critical role in developing Sustainalytics’ methodology for rating a company in terms of its ESG performance, a much softer, more subjective measurement than typical investment metrics like EBITDA and ROI. I was part of the team that collaborated on the “50 Most Socially Responsible Corporations” reports, published jointly by Sustainalytics (then known at Jantzi Research) and Maclean’s magazine, in 2007 and 2009.



United Nations

• International Affairs
• 700 & Above Employee

• Consultant, Division for the Advancement of Women, and Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issue

  • 2005 - 2005

  Drawing on the knowledge learned through my Masters in International Development, I was privileged to work on issues related to gender equality and violence against women, internationally and within United Nations organizations. I conducted research and prepared workshops to support an in-depth study on all forms of and manifestation of violence against women and on what the UN could do to fight against it. I also researched ways to improve gender equality within the UN itself. Part of that work involved reviewing external studies, including one conducted by Catalyst, which I summarized for publication as “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity,” Women’s Network Newsletter 9, no. 1 (January–March, 2005) I’m also very proud to have led the establishment of the UN’s internal policy on sexual harassment and abuse for UN employees.