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, expert reports 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 has served on the boards of the Bank of Canada, Munich Reinsurance Company of Canada, the Global Risk Institute, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Michael Garron Hospital, SickKids Foundation, Royal Group Technologies (TSE: RYG) and Life Storage (NYSE: LSI) among others. She serves as Chair of the Dean’s Global Advisory Council, Schulich School of Business.
Carol is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors, the American College of Governance Counsel and the Governance and Sustainability Center of The Conference Board (New York). She is the recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in Investor Relations (IR Magazine), the 2017 Hennick Medal for Career Achievement, the 2022 Award for Excellence in Investor Relations from the Canadian Investor Relations Institute and the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Governance Professionals of Canada. In 2024 Carol received an honorary doctorate from York University.
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 served as Special Canadian Advisor to the Corporate Laws Committee of the ABA for more than years. She is a past Vice Chair of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Corporate Governance Committee. She is also 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 Corporate Governance for Directors and a number of influential papers. Carol speaks and teaches widely and has participated in the education of thousands of directors across Canada through the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program.
Carol’s education includes an Honours B.A. from Western University, an M.A. from the University of Toronto, an LL.B from Osgoode Hall and an M.B.A from the Schulich School of Business. She was called to the bar in Ontario and admitted to the bar in New York.