Anne Giardini

CHANCELLOR, SFU; FORMER PRESIDENT, WEYERHAEUSER CANADA

Anne Giardini’s foray into the world of economics is of another time. In 1977, as a first-year student at the University of Ottawa in her hometown, she took the subject on the advice of the woman at the admissions desk. “She asked me a few questions about my interests and suggested that economics would be something I’d enjoy,” Giardini recalls.

It turned out to be a savvy choice. Giardini would transfer to SFU (where she now serves as chancellor) a year later, but she relished the chance to be taught by another trailblazer, world-leading economist and South African expat Irene Spry, who passed away in 1998. “Why she took on a bunch of runny nose first-year students, I have no idea,” Giardini says. “But she took an interest in me; I guess I asked the right kinds of questions. And she instilled in me a deep interest in economics and money— how it works in society, how wealth is generated and how it gets deployed.”

Though she later completed two degrees in law, Giardini has remained entrenched in the world of finance. Starting in 2008, she spent six years as president of the Canadian arm of Seattle-based forestry giant Weyerhaeuser. She recently finished an eight-year term as chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, and this year she became chair of Translink’s finance committee.

“Anne is intellectual, curious, kind and generous,” says panellist Tracey Mcvicar. “A large community of women in finance, law, the non-profit sector and academia have benefited greatly from her mentorship and sponsorship.”

Asked what she tells young women at SFU and elsewhere who are at the proverbial admissions desk, Giardini notes that she often recommends accounting or another related field. “I think this is an area where women can excel, and do excel, and do shine. They still run into the problem that many women face, that question of hitting a ceiling, or running into their child-bearing or family-rearing years, when things get more challenging,” the mother of three adult children explains.

“I often say, ‘Call me if you’re thinking of quitting or dropping out; I’ll talk you into keeping at it.’ And I mean it. It’s so easy to step aside and go off your career path almost unintentionally and think there will be so many on-ramps back. Those onramps might not be there.” —N.C.

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