Pauline D’Amboise

Pauline D'Amboise is secretary general and vice-president of governance and sustainable development at Desjardins Group, the leading cooperative financial group in Canada and the sixth largest in the world. She is responsible for developing and reviewing initiatives related to governance, organizational ethics, and sustainable development. As secretary general, Ms. D'Amboise plays an advisory role with the board of directors, the board of ethics and professional conduct, and the president and CEO of Desjardins Group, supporting them in their roles and responsibilities. She has extensive experience in the areas of corporate governance, organizational ethics, and corporate social responsibility.

Under the leadership of Ms. d'Amboise, Desjardins has fully integrated the principles of sustainable development into its strategy, client service offer, and operations, and today, it has an advisory services team dedicated to sustainable development. Desjardins Group also offers a full range of solidarity-based and eco-friendly financial products and services and supports university research in sustainable development and responsible investing. D'Amboise has spoken at a number of events in Quebec and Europe. She also completed training with the Climate Reality Project Canada (founded by Al Gore) and is certified to give talks on climate change.

Pauline D'Amboise holds a master's degree in organizational ethics from the Université de Sherbrooke and the title of certified corporate director from the Université Laval. In 2012, she was appointed ambassador of sustainable development by the Université de Sherbrooke and was named one of Canada's top 25 women of influence. In 2013, she was named business and economics grand laureate by the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil/La Presse. She received a Clean50 Award from Delta Management Group for her efforts in sustainable development in 2015, and a Women of Distinction Award in the environment category from the Montreal Women's Y Foundation in 2016.

D'Amboise is the chair of the board of the Université Laval's Institut Hydro-Québec en environnement, développement et société. She is also a board member of Coop Carbone and an advisory council member of SWITCH, an organization that aims to speed up the transition towards a green economy.

Ms. D'Amboise has been a board member of the David Suzuki Foundation since 2010. She is the board co-chair of Bourse du Carbone Scol'ÈRE, an education program to encourage young people and their families to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the program's educational carbon credits.

She has also been an ambassador and mentor for the Association of Quebec Women in Finance for two years, and she was recently recognized for her active involvement. The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation appointed her a Trudeau mentor in 2017.