Payments Canada Elects Four New Board Directors

OTTAWA, July 10, 2017 – Payments Canada, the country’s financial market infrastructure for payments, welcomed Carolyn Burke, François Desjardins, Garry Foster, and Ernie Johannson to its Board of Directors, effective June 22, 2017.

The new directors bring an impressive and diverse range of expertise in technology, transformation and payments that will complement the work underway by the Board of Directors and Payments Canada to modernize the payments infrastructure and rules that underpin financial transactions in Canada.

Joining the Board are:

• Carolyn Burke – member director. As Head, Enterprise Payments for RBC, Burke is responsible for leading the bank’s enterprise payments strategy and council, covering the spectrum of wholesale to business and retail payments. 
• François Desjardins – member director. Desjardins is Chair of the Board of Directors of B2B Bank and President and Chief Executive Officer of Laurentian Bank of Canada. With more than 25 years of experience in financial services, Desjardins has been at the forefront of technological and customer behaviour changes.
• Garry Foster – independent director. CEO of Cortleigh Capital Inc., Foster also sits on the boards of SmartREIT and Real Matters Inc.. Foster previously led Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Practice, was Vice Chair of the firm and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Baycrest Foundation.
• Ernie (Erminia) Johannson – member director. Bridging payments and retail banking experience with risk management, Johannson is Head, North American Retail Credit and Chief Risk Officer for Canadian P&C Banking and Wealth Management at Bank of Montreal.

“This is an incredible time of change at Payments Canada and in the payments ecosystem, which presents an exciting opportunity for all involved,” said Eileen Mercier, Chair of the Board of Directors. “I welcome these new directors, whose knowledge, skills and experience will be invaluable at this stage of our modernization journey,”

The Payments Canada Board of Directors is composed of 12 elected directors (seven independent directors and five directors selected from Payments Canada’s vast network of financial institutions), and Payments Canada’s President and CEO, Gerry Gaetz. As part of Payments Canada’s governance framework, a certain number of Board positions come up for election each year during the annual meeting of members. Eligibility criteria for directors, including independence requirements, are set by the Canadian Payments Act, its regulations and Payments Canada’s guidelines.

For more extensive biographical information on the Payments Canada’s Board of Directors, please visit our website.

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About Payments Canada:

Payments Canada ensures that financial transactions in Canada are carried out safely and securely each day. The organization underpins the Canadian financial system and economy by owning and operating Canada’s payment clearing and settlement infrastructure, including associated systems, by-laws, rules and standards. The value of payments cleared and settled by Payments Canada in 2016 was nearly $51 trillion, or more than $201 billion every business day. These encompass a wide range of payments made by Canadians and businesses involving inter-bank transactions, including those made with debit cards, pre-authorized debits, direct deposits, bill payments, wire payments and cheques. Payments Canada is the brand name of the Canadian Payments Association.

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