Carol Hansell is the Senior Partner of Hansell LLP, a member of the Hansell McLaughlin Advisory Group. Over her more than 30 years in practice, she has led major transactions for public and private corporations and governments. She now leads an independent firm dedicated to advising boards, management teams, institutional shareholders and regulators in connection with legal and governance challenges. She is regularly engaged in connection with special committee mandates, board investigations, governance design and reviews and shareholder engagement matters. Carol is also a principal with Hansell McLaughlin Advisory Inc., which, together with Hansell LLP, delivers integrated legal, governance, government relations and communications advice.
Carol has served on boards of organizations across a variety of sectors – public companies, Crown corporations, financial institutions, healthcare, not-for-profit and arts organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Munich Reinsurance Company of Canada and the American College of Governance Counsel. Carol has served on the boards of the Bank of Canada, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Toronto East General Hospital and SickKids Foundation, among others. She serves as Chair of the Dean’s Global Advisory Council, Schulich School of Business and as Vice Chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Corporate Governance Committee.
Carol a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the American College of Governance Counsel. She is the recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in Investor Relations (IR Magazine), the 2017 Hennick Medal for Career Achievement and the 2022 Award for Excellence in Investor Relations from the Canadian Investor Relations Institute.
Carol has been involved in governance education and thought leadership throughout her career. Most notably, Carol served as the only non-American Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee of the American Bar Association (Business Law Section) and continues to serve as Special Canadian Advisor to the Corporate Laws Committee of the ABA. She is the past chair of the Business Law Advisory Council and its successor council, providing advice to the Ontario government on corporate and commercial law.
Carol is the author of a four volume loose-leaf service Directors and Officers in Canada: Law and Practice and the best-selling What Directors Need to Know: Corporate Governance and the recently released Corporate Governance for Directors. Carol speaks and teaches widely and has participated in the education of thousands of directors across Canada through the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program.