Transitioning from a senior financial services executive to supporting her community through chairmanships and board appointments, businesswoman Sarah Morgan-Silvester has found diversity to be the spice of her professional life.
With high-profile appointments that include chair of Port Metro Vancouver and the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre Foundation, as well as chancellor of the University of British Columbia, the mother to four children also finds time to serve as a director to Enmax Corp. and Women in the Lead Inc. and a member of the David Suzuki Foundation national business advisory council.
“It is one thing to be really excellent in your chosen line of work, but I think what maybe makes people a little different is when they are more broadly embraced by the community and they are doing a variety of different things that are involved with supporting the community,” said the former HSBC chair and director upon reflection on being named as a BIV Influential Women in Business honouree. “Certainly I would put business activity on that list because business activity absolutely supports the community.”
Morgan-Silvester is no stranger to accolades.
She was named to Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 List in 2008, received the Six Sigma Excellence Award in 2004 and was dubbed one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in 1998.
“When I look at these kinds of awards, I actually look at the impact that they can have by highlighting role models for individuals who are either early in their careers or are thinking about their career choices,” she said. “I’ve grown up with my children – and in many respects as a parent it is arguable about who is growing up with who – but you are quite attuned to that.”
Morgan-Silvester is “rejuvenated” by being associated with a number of different organizations. For her, it is all about the learning curve.
“My learning curve being involved with these organizations, just doesn’t stop,” she said. “It keeps you active and involved, and you wake up in the morning really energized to begin that next day.”
Each of her roles compliment each other, she said, and all fit her desire to be involved in organizations that make a difference locally, nationally and internationally.
She also looks for organizations where she feels she can contribute something and that make her roll up her sleeves and get involved.
“I do actually want the organizations to be quite different because I think that really helps me grow as an individual, plus I can take the learning from different organizations that I am involved in and apply them back to the specific organizations I might be trying to help in terms of their decision-making process,” she said. “To make a contribution to that is pretty energizing.”
She plans to continue in her current roles for the near term, but expects after a couple of years that she will likely be involved with other organizations that “fit the bill.”
Politics, however, are not in her future, she said, adding that she was elected as UBC chancellor and, as a result of that process, has more admiration for public officials.
“I probably can make a bigger difference on the outside,” she said. “Certainly a lot of these organizations support Canada and Canadian citizens. That is my contribution.” •
