Glen Korstrom

Few women have played a bigger role in furthering women’s representation on boards of directors than Elizabeth Watson.

Some of Watson’s first couple decades of work as a lawyer included corporate governance issues. But it was Premier Gordon Campbell who thrust the Vancouver native onto the life-path of being a board expert, when he recruited her to be his government’s managing director of board resourcing and development from 2001 through 2005.

“I could include [Campbell] as being someone who had a big influence on my career, particularly this aspect of it because he really put me into a big job and supported me to do whatever I thought was appropriate,” Watson said.

Approximately 40% of the people whom she recruited as directors to boards during her tenure were women.

Watson co-produced and chaired two conferences on corporate governance and authored Governance and disclosure guidelines for governing boards of British Columbia public sector organizations.

That February 2005 document changed how B.C.’s public sector boards operated in several ways:

  boards’ audit committees were required to have people who were financially literate (meaning that they understood and could interpret the organization’s financial statements);

  board members would play a more active role in board succession; and

  boards would have more clear descriptions outlining roles and responsibilities for members.

Watson has had plenty of personal board experience, starting with serving on the Vancouver Police Board in the early 1990s alongside Campbell.

She currently chairs the board for Richmond’s Choice School for Gifted Children, which has one of her two children as a student. She is a director of the Institute of Corporate Directors, a director of Women in the Lead Inc. and a member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 advisory board.

Watson rounds out her regular community service by being a member of Simon Fraser University’s Wosk Centre for Dialogue council.

Her calendar is packed with speaking engagements. If it isn’t an Institute of Corporate Directors event, it’s one hosted by the Conference Board of Canada, the Corporate Women Directors International, Canadian Foundation for Investor Education or the Credit Union Central of Canada.

“One of the things I’m pretty good at is engaging people who I don’t know and bringing them into the fold of something that I do know,” Watson explained.

She remembers shopping for a gift basket a couple years ago on Vancouver’s west side. She noticing a frazzled-looking woman who might have been the store owner. Watson introduced herself, confirmed that the woman indeed owned the business and invited the woman to the Forum for Women Entrpreneurs’ annual gala.

Outside her work as a sole practitioner and owner of the consulting firm Governance Advisory Services, Watson and her husband enjoy tennis, golf, skiing and spending time with the family.

  gkorstrom@biv.com

What professional achievement are you most proud of?

Leading reforms to institute professional director recruitment practices and “best in class” governance practices in British Columbia public sector organizations.

What’s the greatest barrier that you’ve had to overcome in your career?

Starting out with no mentors or contacts in the business world.

Who’s had the biggest influence on your career?

My mother – I grew up with unwavering support from my mother. She always believed I could do anything I set my mind to doing.

What network or organization has helped you most in your career?

The informal network of professional colleagues I developed throughout my career.

What was your toughest decision?

To leave my law partnership after 14 years after I had my first child.

What book are you reading?

For work: Building Better Boards by David Nadler and Bev Behan; for pleasure: ‘Tis by Frank McCourt.

What is your favourite movie?

8 Femmes.