Donna Kennedy-Glans

Donna is a boundary-crosser. She has worked on the ground to add value to enterprising projects in over thirty-five countries, in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Born a farmer’s daughter near Tillsonburg, in southwestern Ontario, Donna left the family cattle and tobacco farm to get a law degree at the University of Western Ontario and then headed further west, to Alberta, to work in the oil patch.

During her career in the energy sector, Donna held several unique and pioneering roles in risk management, corporate integrity and sustainability: she became the first female vice-president at Nexen; was an early architect of transparency initiatives in places like Nigeria; and again and again, demonstrated the ability to bring together investors, communities, advocates and governments on values-based issues.

Aside from a long career as an energy insider, Donna has varied experience across many sectors: founding a non-profit to build the capacity of women in Yemen, serving as an elected politician and cabinet minister, holding leading roles on boards of directors, and participating with her siblings in the stewardship of the family farm enterprise.

She is the author of Corporate Integrity: A Toolkit for Managing Beyond Compliance (Wiley, 2005), and is now a political commentator, community builder, writer and speaker, weighing in on energy, leadership, governance, community and integrity issues.

Collaborating with others to design and implement smart solutions to vexing problems is a passion for Donna. Her goal has always been to figure out how to make better decisions within organizations, and to help others do the same, with greater agility and intention.

When she is not teaching dinosaurs to dance, Donna can be found hiking in some remote place, camera at the ready, or playing with her granddaughter, Kennedy.