Valerie Chort
Board member
Valerie Chort is an ESG expert and operational risk management professional with a background in engineering and deep industry and financial services experience.
Ms. Chort is a respected Corporate Director and business leader with deep expertise and an exemplary track record in ESG, risk management, operations, EHS (Environment, Health & Safety) and sustainable finance. For over 30 years she has helped boards, businesses, governments and non-government organizations execute innovative strategies to manage ESG and reputational risks, and create value through purpose-led ESG.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Chort held senior roles in consulting, industry and government. From 2015 until 2023, she was the Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and ESG for the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), responsible for developing an integrated citizenship strategy aligned to RBC’s purpose and business objectives. Key pillars under her leadership included enterprise ESG, social impact and innovation, employee engagement, and impact measurement. She also served as Executive Director of the RBC Foundation, one of Canada’s largest corporate foundations, investing more than $140 million in communities annually.
Prior to RBC, she was Deloitte’s Americas Leader for Sustainability & Climate Change and a Partner with Deloitte Canada’s Enterprise Risk Services, where she built a national practice serving Canada’s largest corporations and FP500 companies, specializing in strategy and risk management in the areas of environmental, social and reputational risk. She also held roles as Vice President, EHS and Product Safety with Husky IMS and Management Consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc.
She serves on the boards of Transat A. T., North West Rubber Group of Companies, Women’s College Hospital Foundation, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development. She is a founding member of Women for Nature. In 2021, she was named as one of 26 Climate Champions in Canada by the Canada Climate Law Initiative and the British High Commission in Canada.
She is also the co-founder of a thriving peony flower farm enterprise, Fleur de Roy Inc., based in southern Ontario.
Valerie earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemisty and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.