SARA GELGOR LLB, LLM, MBA, ICD. D. G. Dipl. SRS

Sara is an experienced board director and financial services executive.  Sara has served as a board member of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, including Toronto Hydro and the University of Toronto Governing Council Business Board, and has been named to the Diversity 50 by the Canadian Board Diversity Council.  She successfully completed the Rotman Directors Education Program and holds the ICD.D designation. Sara is a member of Governance Professionals Canada and is a faculty member of the GPC.D program, having collaborated in the design and launch of the designation program. Sara has held senior leadership roles in the Canadian Financial Services sector and is currently a member of RBC’s Sustainability Team where she leads Human Rights and Sustainability initiatives. Most recently she was an officer of Concentra Bank, where she led compliance and financial crime risk management teams and was a member of the Bank’s ESG/CSR Strategy Team. In a prior role Sara was Chief Compliance Officer for an insurer, and she has helped shape public policy through material contributions as a committee member at the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance, and the Canadian Bankers Association.

Sara is no stranger to Advocis. From 2003 to 2008 she held the staff position of Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and earned a strong reputation for her critical thinking and her ability to build strategic relationships, successfully leading a number of key initiatives, including Advocis’ intervention in a landmark Supreme Court of Canada constitutional law challenge.

Sara obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and attended Queen’s University for Law School. She is a lawyer, and also holds a Master’s degree in International Law from Cambridge University, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.  She completed the Osgoode Hall Law School Certificate in Legal & Regulatory Risk Management for Financial Institutions, and has been a faculty member of the certificate program since 2013. She is a frequent speaker at conferences, including the Northwind Financial Services Invitational Forum, and is a past lecturer at the Rotman School of Management and Queen’s Law School.

Sara shares her home with her spouse and their two children, as well their Leonberger, Golden Retriever, and Bengal Leopard cat.  Her passions include travel and skiing, and she is a long-standing member of the Toronto International Film Festival and a volunteer at Toronto’s Out of the Cold Program.