Connie Sugiyama

Ms. Sugiyama, President of ConMark Strategy Inc., provides high level strategy advice to both the public and private sectors. Recognized as a trailblazer and leading counsel to domestic and international businesses on matters of corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions law, she now leverages her strengths in strategy, governance and risk management with her broad network, to focus on public service and corporate board work as well as advisory mandates.

Ms. Sugiyama is an experienced corporate director and board advisor. She currently serves as a director of the Mount Pleasant Group and the Building Ontario Fund, as an Emeritus Director of the Gairdner Foundation, as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s Innovation Hub and as a strategy advisor to Serefin Health. Among her many board roles, she has served as a director and Vice Chair of the Ontario Financing Authority, as a director of the Gairdner Foundation, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and was the first woman to chair the world-renowned Hospital for Sick Children. She was also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University).

Ms. Sugiyama was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2014 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D. Honoris Causa) from the University of Western Ontario in 2015. She has been recognized for both professional excellence and leadership by University College (Alumna of Influence), Ascend Canada (Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award), Women in Capital Markets (Leadership Award), the Women’s Executive Network (Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women) and was recognized by the International Alliance for Women for her efforts in advancing the economic empowerment of women. In 2023, she received a Foreign Minister’s Commendation from the Government of Japan for her contributions to the promotion of friendship between Canada and Japan.

Recognized as an excellent communicator, Ms. Sugiyama is a much sought after speaker on a broad range of issues including corporate governance and ethics, board culture and effectiveness, enterprise risk management and workplace diversity and inclusion.