Katya Laviolette

Worth knowing

She has run CEO transitions three times over, taking 1Password from founder leadership to an external CEO and guiding Sanimax from family ownership to professional management. She knows what it takes to hire executives at speed, having driven a 93% offer-to-acceptance rate, and how compensation and governance committees actually decide.

Story

Katya built her career through some of Canada's largest employers, with senior roles at Canadian National Railway and Bombardier Aerospace, then HR leadership at Rio Tinto's Alcan Packaging, CBC/Radio-Canada and TSX-listed TC Transcontinental. She moved into e-commerce as Chief People Officer and Head of Real Estate at SSENSE. At 1Password she rebuilt the C-suite and grew the workforce past 1,400 employees. Alongside that she sits on boards across the circular economy and entertainment technology sectors, advises co-founders at Mento and Airvet, and mentors women leaders through Gouvernance au Féminin. She is a founding member of Transform Montreal, backing education, economic development and sustainability work in the city.

In Katya's words

Bilingual executive leader (French and English). Born in Montreal. Grew up in England, and then Edmonton, Alberta and built a global career in Montreal over the last 30 years. CHRO/CPO | Board Director | Investor | Advisor - multiple industries. Public and private companies.

Highlights

• Board Director and Chair, Governance/HR Committee, Sanimax ($1B CAD)
• Board Director and Chair, HR & Compensation Committee, Solotech, since 2023
• Master of Industrial Relations, Queen's University
• BCom, University of Alberta; Harvard Business School Executive Education
• ICD-certified in Governance Essentials; HR Committee, McGill University