Suzanne Labarge, vice chairman and chief risk officer of RBC Financial Group, has been elected chair of RMA — The Risk Management Association.

Labarge, a member of RMA’s Toronto Chapter, has served on RMA’s Board of Directors since 2000. Her one-year term began September 1.

Headquartered in Philadephia, RMA is a professional association whose purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry.

At RBC, Labarge directs the strategic management of risk on an enterprise-wide basis and is a member of the Group Management Committee, which sets the institution’s overall strategic direction. She also chairs the USA Corporate Governance Committee, the Ethics and Compliance Committee and the Risk Management Committee.

Labarge is a graduate of McMaster University, where she is currently a member of the board of governors. She has a master’s degree from Harvard Business School and is currently serving on the Board of the Harvard Business School Club of Toronto.

She also serves on the Faculty of the Commerce Advisory Council at the University of British Columbia. Labarge is also a Board member of the Carleton University Foundation. She is a member of The Royal Society of Canada–President’s Advisory Council.