David Nish, chairman of The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada, has announced the nomination of Sheelagh Whittaker as an independent director of Standard Life Canada and two affiliated companies, effective June 1, 2013.
Whittaker has served as an independent director of Standard Life plc, the parent company of Standard Life Canada, since September 2009 and has been a member of its risk and capital, remuneration, nomination and governance, and investment committees. She will retire from that position at the conclusion of the annual general meeting on May 14, 2013.
A well-known Canadian business executive, Whittaker was born in Ottawa and raised on the Prairies. From 1993, she was a corporate officer of Electronic Data Systems Inc of Plano, Texas, working in key leadership roles, initially as President and CEO of EDS Canada, then as Executive Vice-President in Asia Pacific, before transferring to London where she served as Managing Director until her retirement in 2005.
She spent much of her early business career as a director and partner with The Canada Consulting Group, now Boston Consulting Group. She subsequently became Vice President, Planning and Corporate Affairs, at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and then President and CEO of Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. (Cancom).
Whittaker, who has served as a director of corporations in four countries, remains an independent director of Imperial Oil Limited where she chairs the corporate governance and nominations committee. She is also the author of The Slaidburn Angel published by Dundurn in 2012.
Also read: