2018-2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bindu Cudjoe is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel – T&O Legal and Chief Knowledge Officer of the legal, compliance and security groups at BMO Financial Group. She is accountable for managing legal and regulatory risk relating to technology, procurement, outsourcing, intellectual property and enterprise brand, marketing and social media. Additionally, she is responsible for knowledge management, including board and senior management reporting, project management, records and information management, centralized litigation support (e-discovery and legal holds) and internal knowledge-sharing systems.

Bindu was most recently Deputy General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer. Bindu started at BMO as Senior Counsel in the Canadian Personal & Commercial legal team and then lead the BMO Capital Markets Corporate Banking legal team. Prior to joining BMO in 2012, she was a partner in McMillan LLP’s Financial Services group and is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall law school at York University.

Bindu is active in her local community as a director and secretary of the Oakville Community Foundation. She is also active in the legal community as a director of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto, former director of the Federation of Asian Canadian lawyers and is Vice-President and director of Women General Counsel Canada.

Bindu is a frequent speaker, panellist and writer on topics of innovation, diversity & inclusion and women in the legal profession. Bindu was recognized in 2016 as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine and was a 2014 recipient of the Lexpert Magazine Rising Star award and the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto’s 2014 Legal Excellence Award.

Hilda Wong is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for First National and oversees all aspects of First National’s legal affairs including formation of legal policy, compliance and regulatory matters, governance, contract negotiation and documentation and is responsible for First National’s privacy and anti money laundering programs. Ms. Wong joined First National in 2007 as Senior Legal Counsel and was appointed General Counsel in January, 2013 and Vice President in April, 2014. Prior to joining First National, Ms. Wong was a partner with the national law firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. Ms. Wong has extensive experience in all aspects of financing, syndicated lending and real estate. Ms. Wong holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto and has been in practice since 1993.

Julia Shin Doi is General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Governors of Ryerson University.  As an Executive Group member, she is responsible for providing legal and governance advice and has operational responsibility for access to information, privacy and records management.   Julia is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ryerson Futures Inc. and the national Board of Directors of Canadian Universities Reciprocal Insurance Exchange (CURIE).

Julia has taught legal seminars for Ryerson University’s Law Centre and advises Ryerson’s Law Practice Program.  She is an Executive in Residence for the Certified In-House Counsel – Canada designation offered by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association and University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Julia is a past adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she taught from 2001 to 2013.  She is the past director of the Osgoode Business Clinic, past instructor of Legal Drafting, past assistant director of the LLM in Business Law and past instructor of Osgoode Professional Development’s Commercial Legal Drafting Workshop. She currently teaches contract drafting and practice skills to lawyers.

Julia is the co-author of the leading Canadian text on drafting boilerplate contract clauses, Behind and Beyond Boilerplate: Drafting Commercial Agreements. She has also published and presented in the areas of licensing, securing copyright and privacy law and serves on the editorial board of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada’s Canadian Intellectual Property Review. Julia is also a past member of the editorial board of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Magazine. She serves on the judging panel for Canadian Lawyer InHouse Magazine Innovatio Awards.

An active member of her community and the legal profession, Julia is past Chair of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association of Ontario.   She is past president of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers and a founding member of the Korean Canadian Lawyers Association.  She co-founded the Roundtable of Diversity Associations which brings together diverse professional associations, founded the Women’s General Counsel Group of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario to support senior women in law, and established the Law Practice Program Corporate Counsel Advisory Board.  Julia serves on the Board of Directors of the Korean Canadian Arirang Age Friendly Community Centre.

She has been recognized by The Law Society of Upper Canada’s Diversifying the Bar: Lawyers Make History project as an early and exceptional lawyer from a diverse community, and also by the Korean Canadian Lawyers Association and the Korean Canadian Leadership Development committee for her community leadership.  In 2014, Julia was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canadaby the Women’s Executive Network (WXN), in recognition of her vision and leadership, management role, contribution to corporate performance, and community service.  In 2015, Julia was awarded the Ontario Bar Association’s Linda Adlam Manning Award for Volunteerism in recognition of her outstanding volunteer commitment, advancement of the interests of the Ontario Bar Association’s membership, and promotion of the role of the legal profession in Ontario. In 2016, the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association awarded Julia their highest national honour, the R.V.A. Jones Award, as her career exemplifies the highest standards of service, conduct and professionalism.

Julia obtained her BA with distinction from the University of Toronto, her JD and LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School, was admitted to the Bar in Ontario in 1994, and is a registered trademark agent.

Dorothy Quann was most recently Vice President and General Counsel for Xerox Canada.

Dorothy is the Chair of the Law & Business Advocacy Council to the Ted Rogers School of Management. She was formerly on the Executive Committee of the Legal Leaders for Diversity. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cancer Research Society. She is a recipient of 2016 General Counsel Award from Women’s Law Association Ontario for commitment to the success of women in law. Dorothy received the Lexpert Zenith Awards which celebrates leading women lawyers. She is a recipient of The International Alliance for Women- World of Difference 100 Award, which recognizes women from around the world who have contributed to the advancement of women in business.

Dorothy is a Juror for the Canadian Lawyer In-house Innovation Awards, and a member of the Selection Committee of the Common Law Honour Society of the University of Ottawa. She is former member of the Advisory Panel to the University Of Toronto Global Professional Masters Of Law. She was the Co-Chair of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Ass. National Conference in 2015. She is a past member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Dorothy is a former member of the Awards Committee of the Ontario Bar Ass. She was a director of the Ontario Board of the Information Technology Association of Canada. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Law Society of England and Wales.