In our Shaping the Future With… series, we explore the perspectives of directors helping boards navigate a rapidly changing world. In this edition, Watson Partner Rachel O’Connor speaks with Lori-Ann Beausoleil — a seasoned director, governance leader, and one of Canada’s leading voices on board diversity.
After a 36-year career at PwC — where she held national leadership roles spanning ethics, compliance, governance, real estate, and forensics — Lori-Ann now serves on boards across Canada and the United States, and plays a leading role in advancing the next generation of diverse, board-ready talent as co-founder of the Board Diversity Network. Recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by WXN and named a “Director to Watch” by Directors & Boards, she brings deep expertise in risk, governance, and board leadership to every boardroom she enters.
In a conversation spanning risk, strategy, diversity, and psychological safety, Lori-Ann explains why great governance starts with a great Chair, why boards need to stop treating diversity in a silo and start treating it as strategic imperative, and what it takes to make sure every voice around the table is actually heard.
Rachel O’Connor: Lori-Ann, we like to start every conversation with the same question: what does good governance mean to you?
Lori-Ann Beausoleil: A lot goes into good governance, but I start with two foundations. First, your success as a board relies on having a good Chair. Second, that Chair has to have an excellent relationship with the CEO.
You’ll hear people say, “but governance has failed because the CEO and Chair were too close.” I don’t think a close relationship is the failure — I think the failure is a Chair who does not understand what independence and fiduciary duty actually requires, regardless of how close the relationship is.
However, a good Chair is only as effective as the table they’re leading — good governance starts with a Chair who facilitates open communication and a board culture of engagement.
ROC: What makes a great Chair?
LAB: Three things, really.
Effective communicator comes first.
A Chair needs to communicate complicated issues, but also sensitive ones. They need business acumen — and they also need good instincts for addressing issues that carry a personal or behavioural charge.
Second is deep business experience.
With everything happening in capital markets and geopolitics, you need a Chair who understands that environment. Boards sometimes get caught looking in the rearview mirror. You need a Chair who makes sure the conversation is looking forward.
Third is risk management.
I come from a risk background, but today risk isn’t a specialty — it’s a necessity in the boardroom. The risks and complexities organizations face are unlike anything we’ve seen before and boards that treat risk as a side conversation are really just avoiding a conversation about their own future.
“If risk isn’t on the agenda, neither is the future.”
ROC: You’ve spent your career in leadership roles as well as governance roles. How has leadership shaped the way you show up in the boardroom?
LAB: Leadership taught me how to use my voice. And what’s made me successful in governance isn’t just my ability to communicate — it’s my ability to listen. Leadership taught me how to communicate, how to listen, and how not to respond emotionally.
That’s something we don’t talk about enough in boardrooms. Sound decision-making comes from experience and judgement — that’s different from emotion.
Take CEO compensation. It’s easy to react emotionally, but what are the facts? What are comparable organizations doing? What does the data tell us? I’ve often found myself saying, “Let’s pause. This feels like an emotional conversation. I think we need more facts.”
And sometimes you need an independent perspective — not because anyone is wrong, but because an outside voice can help the board move from emotion back to evidence.
ROC: One theme we hear repeatedly is that boards don’t spend enough time on strategy. Why is that still such a challenge?
LAB: Historically, many boards built a strategy, approved it, and spent years tracking progress against it. That worked in a more stable world. Today’s world is different. Market conditions are changing daily, and we have to be agile.
When I say strategy should be on the agenda quarterly, I don’t mean revisiting the entire plan — I mean testing assumptions. Have market conditions changed? Have competitors changed? Has our view of capital allocation changed? Are we still making the same assumptions we were making six months ago? Those are the conversations boards should be having.
“What would once have been long-term thinking increasingly has to become short-term thinking.”
ROC: You’ve dedicated significant time to advancing board diversity. How do you think diversity improves board effectiveness?
LAB: We have enough research now to know that groupthink and homogeneous thinking does not produce the best outcomes. The challenge is that people became fixated on diversity categories and started treating diversity in a silo rather than integrating diversity into strategy.
“For me, diversity starts with stakeholders. As directors, we’re there representing stakeholders. How can we represent stakeholders if nobody around the table shares their experiences or understands their realities?”
Our stakeholders are diverse. They come from different communities that have different preferences, different needs, and different expectations. You need board members who understand these different experiences and perspectives. Without that diversity in the boardroom, business assumptions and decisions can go untested.
ROC: That’s also what drives your work with the Board Diversity Network.
LAB: Absolutely.
Traditional board networks don’t always have diverse connections. The Board Diversity Network exists to help organizations find highly qualified, board-ready candidates they might not otherwise encounter.
“We’re not asking boards to appoint people because they are diverse. We’re asking boards to start with the skills they need — and then broaden where they look for talent.”
The conversation shouldn’t be, “Let’s bring Lori-Ann onto the board because she’s a Black woman.” The conversation should be, “We need risk, audit and financial skills and global experience. Lori-Ann brings that skillset — and she brings the diversity and perspective through her experiences as a Black woman.”
That’s very different.
What makes me proud is seeing organizations discover exceptional talent that was always there. And what makes the Board Diversity Network special isn’t just the program — it’s the community. People help each other. They share opportunities. They open doors. They support each other’s success long after the program ends.
ROC: Diversity only creates value if people feel safe enough to contribute. What should boards be doing to create that environment?
LAB: Psychological safety is critical. Some people arrive in the boardroom carrying experiences of being overlooked, excluded, or not heard. Those experiences don’t disappear overnight.
My advice is simple: encourage all board members to contribute around the boardroom table and create an environment where it is safe to ask difficult questions.
Maybe that means a conversation before the meeting to give the board member confidence. Maybe it means intentionally drawing someone into the discussion when you know they have something valuable to contribute. Give them space until they get their legs underneath them — because if we want the benefit of diverse perspectives, every voice has to be heard. And I believe the board is stronger when everybody participates.
ROC: We always like to finish with something more personal. If you could invite four people, living or from history, to a dinner party, who would they be?
LAB: Martin Luther King Jr. would be there for his brilliance, his courage, and his determination to do what was right. And I’d invite Aretha Franklin — not just because of her music, but because I’d love to hear how somebody with that kind of artistic genius sees the world. And I love RESPECT.
The other two would be my parents.
My father, Laurence Streete, has passed away, and I miss him tremendously. I’d love the chance to sit across from my dad today and ask, “Is there anything else I should be doing? And should I be doing it differently?”
My mother, Margaret Smith-Streete, is still my biggest cheerleader.
I am who I am because of my parents — they taught me I could be anything I wanted to be.
And honestly, with Martin Luther King Jr. and Aretha Franklin at the table, I think I’d need my mother there to be my voice. I’d be completely in awe.
About Lori-Ann Beausoleil
Lori-Ann brings 36 years of experience at PwC — including leadership of the firm’s Ethics, Compliance and Governance practice, National Real Estate practice, and National Forensics practice — to her work in risk management, regulatory compliance, and ethical business conduct.
She currently serves as Lead Director and Audit Committee Chair of Brookfield Real Estate Income Trust Inc.; Lead Director and Finance and Audit Committee member of Cboe Canada; board member and Audit Committee Chair of GO Residential Real Estate Investment Trust; and board member of Metro Inc., where she serves on the Audit Committee and Chairs the Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee.
Lori-Ann has been recognized as a “Director to Watch” by Directors & Boards magazine and named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by WXN for her leadership in corporate governance. She holds her FCPA and FCA designations and earned her degree from
