Justine Hendricks

President and CEO, FCC

Justine comes to FCC after 17 years with Export Development Canada (EDC) and seven years with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). She is an impactful strategist whose diverse experience includes delivering financial services on the front line, leading successful organizational transformations, evolving risk management capabilities, spearheading the development of innovative financial products, and developing and executing corporate strategies. Much of her career has been focused on lending to and supporting Canadian businesses across critical export sectors, including agriculture and agri-food. 

In her time at EDC, Justine was responsible for several different business functions, including business development in the resources, forestry, seafood, agricultural equipment, light manufacturing and extractive sectors, the transformation of EDC’s Financing and Investment Group, and full responsibility for EDC’s $9B Insurance and Working Capital Solutions portfolio. Her most recent role saw her responsible for aligning EDC’s 10-year corporate strategy with evolving business principles and practices focused on the environment, human rights, and innovation. Justine is recognized for her energizing leadership style, mobilizing and listening to her teams while putting the client at the centre of decisions. 

Justine is a member of the University of Ottawa Board of Governors and currently sits on their Audit Committee. She also volunteers extensively and currently serves as Chair of the Digital Opportunity Trust and was past Chair of the Forum for Young Canadians. 

Justine earned an MBA from the University of Ottawa and a bachelor of arts in urban studies from Carleton University. She’s received several awards related to her inspirational leadership and community involvement. 

Gaya Herrington

Vice President, Sustainability Research, Schneider Electric

Gaya is an internationally known sustainability researcher and wellbeing economist, living in Seattle. A regular guest lecturer and keynote and TED speaker, Gaya has been shaping conversations at local and global levels with her message that true sustainability will not be achieved without transforming our economic system away from an obsession with perpetual growth to one that centers around human and ecological wellbeing. Her work, which also includes a book publication and a peer-reviewed article in Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology which went viral in 2021, offers a vision for something society would want to do even if it was not faced with impending ecosystem breakdown: re-design our economy to something that meets all human needs – physical, emotional, and spiritual – within planetary boundaries by design.  

Showcasing her multidimensional approach to effecting change, Gaya has held pivotal roles in both policy and the corporate world. She's currently working as Vice President at Schneider Electric, a multinational working in the energy transition, which was voted most sustainable corporation in the world by Time Magazine in 2024 and by Corporate Knights in 2025. Gaya is a Member of the Club of Rome, a global think tank, and of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Working Group for a Wellbeing Economy in the US. She has one Master's degree in Econometrics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and another in Sustainability from Harvard University. 

Catherine McKenna

Founder and CEO, Climate & Nature Solutions; Chair of the United Nations high-level expert group on net zero emissions commitments of non-state entities.

Catherine McKenna is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Climate and Nature Solutions. She is Canada's former Minister of Environment and Climate Change as well as Minister of Infrastructure. She is Chair of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities which released its Integrity Matters report at COP 27 setting out criteria for net zero commitments of business, financial institutions, cities and regions. She founded Women Leading on Climate and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. She is an advisor to the Climate Data Steering Committee for the Macron/Bloomberg Net Zero Data Public Utility, Singapore's International Advisory Panel for Carbon Credits, the Taskforce on Net Zero Policy, the LSE Just Transition Finance Lab, as well as to the University of Ottawa's Information Integrity Lab. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, the London School of Economics and McGill Law School and is called to the Bars of Ontario and New York.  She advises many private sector boards. She is a frequent speaker on climate action, net zero leadership and women empowerment. 

Philippe Zaouati

CEO, Mirova

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