Donna Soble Kaufman has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Institute of Corporate Directors, effective March 1, the ICD said Tuesday.

She will succeed Wayne McLeod, FCA, who has served in that role since 2006.

The ICD is a not-for-profit, member-based association promoting the effectiveness of Canadian directors and boards.

Kaufman has been a director of the ICD since 2005. She is a former partner of Stikeman Elliott, where she practised anti-trust law. She has served on a number of boards of public, Crown and not-for-profit corporations since 1987, when she became a director, chair of the board and CEO of Selkirk Communications. She currently serves on the boards of BCE Inc., Bell Canada, and TransAlta Corp., where she chairs the Board.

Kaufman is a director of The Historica-Dominion Institute. She serves on the Canadian Advisory Board of Catalyst, a non-profit organization working to expand opportunities for women in business, and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service. In 2001, Kaufman was named a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

“On behalf of the ICD, I would like to thank Wayne for the extraordinary commitment and value he provided in overseeing the ICD’s development and growth over his four-year term as chair,” said Stan Magidson, president and CEO of the ICD.

“With Donna’s appointment, a new chapter in the ICD’s development begins. We are very fortunate to have such an intelligent, accomplished, and experienced director leading our board as chair. The ICD continues to go from strength-to-strength.”

IE