The president of one of Canada’s largest independent financial investment fund companies with control of more than $110 billion in assets credits her Queen’s education with helping her achieve her career success.
“Queen’s is a very special part of my life. I know that I could not have achieved and had the professional career I have been able to have without the benefit of my Queen’s education,” says Sheila Murray, Com’79, Law’83, president of CI Financial Group.
Her successful career and support of Queen’s are some of the reasons why Ms. Murray is receiving this year’s Toronto Award on Nov. 30. It is the highest honour bestowed by the Toronto Branch of the Queen’s University Alumni Association.
Ms. Murray makes full use of her two Queen’s degrees as her career has combined both business and law. For decades she was a Bay Street lawyer practicing securities law before joining CI Financial Group as executive vice president in 2008. She was promoted to president in February of this year.
She took time to reflect on her time at Queen’s and her career journey.
Question: How does it feel to be this year’s recipient of the Toronto Award?
Answer: I am incredibly honoured.
Question: You graduated from Queen’s in 1979 and 1982. Why have you stayed closely connected to Queen’s after all these years?
Answer: Queen’s is a very special part of my life. I know that I could not have achieved and had the professional career I have been able to have without the benefit of my Queen’s education. To be quite frank though, I lost touch for a number of years while my children were young and my job was particularly demanding. But then a few things happened that put me back in touch with Queen’s. In 2005, my oldest daughter went off to Queen’s and she was followed there in 2008 by our two other children. Also in 2008, I changed jobs and as a result re-connected with some Queen’s grads who encouraged me to get involved again. I am delighted to be able to be involved in both the law school and the business school through fundraising initiatives and the Law Dean’s Council.
Question: What is your favourite Queen’s memory?
Answer: My gosh, there are so many of them. It is really hard to choose just one. I have very vivid memories of final exams in first year. We were all scared facing our first big exams in Commerce. However we were also away from home for the first time, and so study discipline was difficult. This was made tremendously more difficult by the fact the exam period that year had unseasonably warm weather. We were all out sunbathing and throwing Frisbees by the lake instead of studying. It was a wonderful time and a great way to end a fantastic first year. I don’t think that our marks suffered substantially because of it. Many other warm memories are of our final year of undergrad when I was involved in student government. We took the responsibility very seriously and the outer council meetings held on alternate Thursday nights were formal affairs which followed parliamentary rules of procedure (or so it seemed at the time). After the meetings, a group of us would grab a drink and solve the world’s problems. There were spirited discussions with all of us having very definite views on what we would do to change the world. It was a very hopeful time.
Question: Was it easy or difficult to transition from business lawyer to business executive?
Answer: It has not been easy. As lawyers you are trained to give advice and to react to a given situation or set of facts. Your judgement is important, as well as your legal knowledge. But you are not generally called upon to set strategy or direction. You will likely only respond to what has been decided. And of course in giving advice or expressing opinions, it may or may not be acted upon. As a business executive I need to help set strategy and, more importantly, I must make decisions, not just provide advice. That transition from advice giver to decision-maker has been significant, but I am delighted to have this opportunity and be in this new role. My legal training and education and my experience as a lawyer have been assets in my new role.
Question: What advice do you have to new Queen’s grads entering today’s job market?
Answer: I would tell them to embrace all opportunities and not to be afraid to have a voice and express their views. We recently held a contest for our summer students. We had 70 students at the Toronto office of CI Financial this past summer. We invited the students to form teams and prepare a strategy on how our company can be more relevant to people of their generation. We had 40 students participate in the challenge, and at the presentations last week the executive team was not only impressed, but overwhelmed by the ideas proposed by these young people. We were reminded that we can all learn from the next generation and that their voices are important. We will make better business decisions if we have the benefit of diverse views, and in this case, the primary diversity was a generational one.
Come out and help honour Ms. Murray. Online registration is now open for the Toronto Award reception on Nov. 30.
