She was the first woman in North America at the helm of a stock exchange, was named one of Fortune’s 50 most powerful women in business (three times), and carried the Olympic torch in the relay leading up to Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games.
Now reports have pegged Barbara Stymiest as the most likely candidate to replace Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis as chair of Research In Motion’s board – should the embattled company choose to shake up its governance.
The Toronto native has served as one of RIM’s directors since 2007 after a stock options scandal put the company in the regulatory spotlight. Corporate governance is one of Stymiest’s areas of expertise, according to RIM shareholder Jaguar Financial Corp.
Whether Stymiest, 55, gets the job at one of Canada’s most important companies or simply continues her role as one of seven independent directors, can she help turn the beleaguered Blackberry maker’s fortunes?
Stymiest started her accounting career with Ernst & Young in Toronto after graduating from the prestigious Richard Ivey School of Business in 1978. She was the youngest partner in the firm when she landed the role at age 30.
With both her CA and FCA under her belt, she moved to BMO Nesbitt Burns in 1992, where she was first executive vice president and then chief financial officer. While she was at it, she found time to sit on the board of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Stymiest, who has been called a trailblazer for women in business by her Alma Mater and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, never felt excluded from a network, male or female, she told The Star in a 1999 interview.
“I have common interests with the guys. I was always very athletic and maybe that's a little unusual and it helped,” she told the reporter.
Back then her golf handicap was 12, she said.
Later that year, she was named CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The TSX went public during her tenure and its market capitalization grew by 20 per cent, according to reports.
In 2004, she was hand-picked to be an executive at the Royal Bank of Canada, where she stayed until she retired in her mid-fifties in 2011.
As the leader of RBC’s team involved with the 2010 Olympics, Stymiest and her then 12-year-old daughter ran with the torch in Brantford, Ont.
Stymiest was named one of Canada’s most powerful women four consecutive years running (2003-2006), one of Fortune’s 50 most powerful women in business each year from 2006-2008 and one of the Financial Times’ top 50 women to watch in 2009.
While building her resume in the financial world, Stymiest did a significant amount of charity work. She chaired drives to raise $60 million for the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – where she has volunteered for more than 25 years – and nearly $100 million for the United Way of Greater Toronto’s 2005 campaign.
In 2011, she received an honorary degree from UWO and the highest award the ICAO has to offer.
“Be creative in how you find your place in this world,” Stymiest said in a speech to UWO graduates at the June convocation. “Try on many hats to find one that fits.”
Stymiest sits on the board of George Weston Limited, the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Royal Ontario Museum.
As chair of the ROM’s board of trustees, Sal Badali has worked closely with Stymiest and describes her as always having done her homework, smart and ready with insightful questions.
She helps the museum with its financial planning, he said.
Regarding the rumours that RIM might name her as its first independent chair, Badali responded, “wouldn’t that be wonderful for RIM and for shareholders of RIM, too.”
A report on RIM’s corporate governance – which is expected to determine who will take the helm of the board – is scheduled to be released by Jan. 31. The company has been under pressure to split the CEO and chair roles, currently occupied by Balsillie and Lazaridis. The company underwent a brutal 2011, with share prices plunging from $59.88 in January 2011 to $14.80 by December 31, amid a series of public relations issues and ongoing product development delays.