Jennifer Laidlaw

Jennifer is a transformational leader, advisor, and coach who works with CEOs and senior executives to develop and deliver on bold, unprecedented change initiatives that result in powerful legacies aligned with strategy, people and purpose. 

She founded Cre8 in 2024 to help leaders thrive and win the Inner Game of leadership, business and life.

With 20 years of experience that spans multiple sectors, including the corporate, regulatory, public and non-profit sectors, Jennifer is a highly effective mobilizer of internal and external partnerships, strategic stakeholder alliances, and broad networks that produce extraordinary outcomes. 

Jennifer spent over 6 years working with the President & CEO, CIBC to lead the development of the 30% Club Canada, including a national Advisory Committee of Chairs and CEOs.  This work resulted in significant progress on the boards and csuites of corporate Canada, including exceeding the achievement of the goal of 30% women on boards listed on the TSX composite.  

As the Country Head of the 30% Club Canada – Jennifer is committed to engaging leaders in corporate Canada to drive inclusive innovation across sectors and reinforce their commitment to advancing all women and non-binary folks.  In addition, she is engaging members to join the 50-30 Challenge and aspire to broader diversity in leadership as a competitive advantage. 

When Jennifer joined CIBC, she led the development of a progressive, global gender-balanced leadership strategy, designed to change talent composition at the executive level across the enterprise with a revolutionary approach to engaging men, creating awareness of privilege and shifting from fixing women to fixing the workplace. 

She also played a critical leadership role in bringing together 8 national non-profits to form the Canadian Gender and Good Governance Alliance, which developed how-to guides for board Chairs and CEOs. 

As a senior executive at the Ontario Securities Commission, Jennifer worked with the Chair and CEO as well as the Board of Directors to architect its transformation into a 21st century regulator.  In addition, she built a multi-year and first of its kind people strategy to guide the human capital transformation that was required to achieve its vision and mission.

In her various executive roles in the Ontario Public Service, Jennifer transformed legacy systems, merged and redesigned divisions, and built new business functions.  

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she earned an MA and completed her undergraduate studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.  She holds a Certificate in Managing in a Regulatory and Enforcement Environment from the Harvard Kennedy School of Management.  She is also a Certified Human Resources Executive and an Adler Trained Coach. 

She currently serves as Board Director and Advisory Committee member for several national non-profit organizations, universities and businesses, including Humber River Health Centre, Luminato and Informed Opinions.