Annual Graduation and Alumni Event
A Night of Celebration for 2024 Chartered Director Graduates
The Directors College was pleased to celebrate its 2024 Chartered Director program graduates and recognize their achievement at convocation on November 7 at the Ron Joyce Centre, DeGroote School of Business in Burlington, Ontario.
The 2024 Chartered Director program graduates represent a diverse group of professionals, including the second cohort of graduates from a partnership between The Directors College and the John Ware Institute, a Canadian non-profit focused on increasing the supply of BIPOC directors for agencies, boards and commissions.
Those in attendance were delighted to reconnect with peers and receive their university-accredited C.Dir. designations from The Directors College, an Executive Program offered by the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University.
The Directors College was also honored to present Maryam Haghighi with the Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award recognizing dedication in raising the bar for professional standards in corporate governance.
2024 Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award
Maryam Haghighi is the 2024 recipient of the Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award, presented to a graduate who has earned top marks on the Chartered Director exam and demonstrated the technical and personal qualities necessary to be an effective board director.
Ms. Haghighi, Director of Enterprise Data Science and Insights at the Bank of Canada, was an active and engaged participant throughout all five modules of the Chartered Director program. She was consistently recognized for her thoughtful insights, incisive questions, and ability to foster productive discussions among fellow participants and faculty.
Uma Gopinath, C.Dir., 2023 Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award recipient, presenting the award to the recipient of the 2024 Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award, Dr. Maryam Haghighi, C.Dir.
Keynote Speaker
The evening’s celebration featured an insightful keynote address by Uma Gopinath, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Porter Airlines, and recipient of the 2023 Gil Bennett Gold Standard Award. Uma shared her leadership journey, including her experiences in corporate governance, driving organizational change, and advancing strategic initiatives throughout her career.
Uma, who received her Chartered Director (C.Dir.) designation in 2023, is a recognized thought leader with a broad range of experience covering leadership, program management and execution, consulting services, international operations, and vendor management. In addition to her role at Porter Airlines, she serves on several boards and advisory committees, where she advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the governance space.
Her discussion on resilience, leadership in times of uncertainty, and the evolving role of boards in today’s dynamic environment was both inspiring and thought-provoking.
It was a truly memorable evening where graduates, faculty, alumni, and guests came together to celebrate those committed to strong leadership and advancing the state of governance in Canada.
To view twenty-one years of Chartered Director graduates, please visit our Alumni page.
Founded in 2003, The Directors College is the original university-accredited director education program in Canada. The College’s mission—to advance transformative governance for the benefit of business and society—is at the heart of its Gold Standard in Governance Education.
The Directors College is an Executive Program from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University.