Dr Janet De Silva
President and Chief Executive Officer
Toronto Region Board of Trade

Jan De Silva is President & CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade, a role she assumed in January 2015. The Toronto region is Canada’s largest metro region comprising 20% of the national GDP. The Board represents the business interests of 12,000 members and 200,000 business professionals across this dynamic urban region.

For 14 years Ms. De Silva has led businesses internationally. She was CEO of Sun Life Financial’s business in Hong Kong and its Mainland China joint venture and then co-founded and was CEO of Retail China Limited a company that was acquired in 2010. In 2011 Ms. De Silva became Dean of Ivey Asia, leading the Hong Kong campus and Mainland China operations of Ivey Business School of Western University.

Highly respected in the business community, Ms De Silva has served terms as both Chair and President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Chair of Canada China Business Council, Beijing. She has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and a Woman of our Time by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. In 2012, Ms De Silva was named to the Canadian Board Diversity Council’s inaugural Diversity 50 List of board ready candidates and presently serves on the boards of Intact Financial Corporation (TSX:IFC) and Blue Umbrella Limited an Asian based due diligence and risk management service provider.

She holds an MBA from Ivey Business School of Western University received an honorary doctorate by Thompson Rivers University.