Deborah Rosati an award-winning corporate director and entrepreneur, has been defined in three interconnected ways throughout her 35-year career – as a corporate governance champion, catalyst for change and community builder.
As the founder and CEO of Women Get On Board Inc. (WGOB), an 850-member social-purpose company, Deborah is building a community of the next generation of women corporate directors, advancing equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI), collaboration, courage, and confidence in the boardroom. WGOB amplifies the voices of women leaders, board members and professionals across Canada through education, mentorship and allyship. It’s been called The Power of Three – one woman in the boardroom is a token, two is a presence, and three is a voice.
Deborah is a leading and serving corporate director, currently chairing the board of Profound Impact Corporation and has chaired many public company audit committees and nominating & corporate governance committees. In addition, Deborah has led and served on numerous special committees with various mandates (including going public, going private, M&A, restructuring and special investigations.) Deborah’s passion for good governance and board diversity is rooted in her board journey when she was often the only woman in the boardroom. These first-hand experiences cemented Deborah’s conviction that having more women on boards makes better business sense.
Never satisfied with the status quo, Deborah always seeks ways to challenge expectations and drive change. She brings an environmental, social and governance (ESG) lens to every board she serves on, as she believes in the power and responsibility of business to change our world for the better.
Deborah’s commitment to sustainable change and empowerment, deep governance and financial expertise and dynamic personality has made Deborah a sought-after thought leader and speaker —her thought leadership on corporate governance, sustainability, EDI and social impact is profiled on her website:
https://deborahrosati.ca
Deborah’s recent awards include:
• Honorary Doctorate of Laws-Brock University-June 2023
• Canadian Women Entrepreneur (CWE) award winner-Equity Diversity in the Workplace, 2023
• SustainabilityX Magazine’s inaugural Global 50 Women in Sustainability Award, 2022
• WXN’s Top 100 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Entrepreneur (2021) and Corporate Director
(2012)
• 2020 “Director to Watch”
Deborah’s social purpose is to get more women on boards—one woman and one board at a time.
I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Deborah for the last two years. It is hard to sum up Deborah’s capabilities in a short note. We both sit on the board of Khiron Life Sciences (V:KHRN), and she is also a Director of TAAL Distributed Networks(C:TAAL) where I serve as President of the company.First of all she is fearless. The environment of a growth company is not for everyone, but for others, we would not have it any other way. Deborah brings passion and enthusiasm to her roles, and is always seen as an open minded problem solver. When a decision needs to be made, and we need to make sure we employ best practices and governance, we look to Deborah. At Khiron Deborah, accepted the leadership role of Audit Chair. She is always ready to lean in when real work needs to be done, and all the time sharing her experience and judgment with management. She gets stuff done, while raising the level of professionalism every time she is in the room.Often times when we identify a role that needs to be filled or created, usually that is met with an enthusiastic, “ Oh, you know what? I know the perfect person!” Deborah leverages her rolodex unselfishly at every opportunity.Good governance and policy can not stand in the way of creativity and entrepreneurship. Deborah not only finds the balance, she leads the way.
As the Chair of the Board of a TSXV-listed marketing company, I had the pleasure of working closely with Deborah in her roles as Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the Audit Committee. Deborah embodies the ideals one seeks in a corporate director. She listens to understand and keeps an open mind, builds relationships with internal and external stakeholders, acts with courage, stays informed and is always prepared. Her commitment to corporate governance and her business judgment are second to none. Serving on a board with Deborah was a highlight of my career and I count myself lucky to have had the pleasure of serving alongside her.