Biography
Kathleen Taylor CM
Former Chair, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), SickKids Foundation and Atlas Partners; Vice-Chair, The Adecco Group; Director, CPPIB and Air Canada
Kathleen (Katie) Taylor is Chair of the Board of RBC. She has served on the Board since 2001, where she has chaired the Human Resources and Corporate Governance Committees, and served on the Audit and Risk Committees. Ms. Taylor also serves as Chair of Atlas Partners, a Toronto-based private equity investment firm.
Ms. Taylor is a director of Air Canada and a member of its Audit, Finance and Risk, Human Resources, and Governance and Nominating Committees. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Adecco Group and a director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, where she serves on the Investment, Audit and Human Resources Committees. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Hospital for Sick Children and a Co-Chair of the SickKids Capital Campaign.
Ms. Taylor is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. During her 24-year career with the iconic global company, she held a number of senior leadership roles and was instrumental in building the firm’s global brand and its international portfolio of luxury properties.
Her many accolades for business achievement include the Schulich School of Business Award for Outstanding Executive Leadership and the inaugural Medal for Career Achievement from the Hennick Centre for Business and Law at York University. She has been inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends and was named to Canada’s Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) after being honoured by WXN in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017. In 2016, Ms. Taylor received the Governance Professionals of Canada Peter Dey Governance Achievement Award and was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Report on Business magazine named Ms. Taylor among the 50 most powerful people in Canadian Business in 2017, and she was also named a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and became a Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors. In 2021, she will chair the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference.
Ms. Taylor has an MBA and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Schulich School of Business, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Toronto. She has also received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from both McGill University and Trent University, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Mount Saint Vincent University.
Ms. Taylor is a member of the C.D. Howe Institute’s National Council where she Co-Chairs the Human Capital Policy Council. She also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Schulich School of Business and on the Principal’s International Advisory Board at McGill University.
Ms. Taylor lives in Toronto with her husband and has three grown children.
