Kathy Bardswick is a Canadian business executive. From 2002 to 2016, she was the President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of The Co-operators Group Ltd, a Canadian insurance cooperative based in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

, Ontario, Canada. She is one of a handful of women at the helm of the top 100 companies in Canada.

Early life and education

Bardswick is one of six children born to Bill Bardswick and his wife Annastasia (née MacNeil). She earned her B.S. degree in mathematics from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

Career

Bardswick began her career with The Co-operators right out of business school in 1978. Her mother applied for the job for her and pretended she was Kathy when the company called back. Bardswick appeared at her own interview and landed a position in the

property and casualty General insurance or non-life insurance policy, including automobile and homeowners policies, provide payments depending on the loss from a particular financial event. General insurance is typically defined as any insurance that is not determine ...

division in Sault Ste. Marie as an

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

. Since then, she has also worked in sales, complex claims, and information systems management. From 1998 to 2002 she served as CEO for two Co-operators Group subsidiaries in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, The Sovereign General and L'Union Canadienne. In March 2002 she was named President and CEO of The Co-operators Group and its institutional investment management subsidiary, Addenda Capital Inc. She is one of a handful of women at the helm of the top 100 companies in Canada; a 2011 report named her as one of four women who are CEOs of Canada's top 100 public companies. Among her achievements, she has led the company in embedding a

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

policy for all its operations, including office construction and automotive fleets.

Memberships

Bardswick is a past chair of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF), and is a member of the ICMIF executive. She is a board member of the International Co-operative Alliance and Addenda Capital. She is the chairperson of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and a former vice-chair of the Board of Governors of the University of Guelph. She served on the executive committee of the

Conference Board of Canada The Conference Board of Canada is a Canadian not-for-profit think tank dedicated to researching and analyzing economic trends, as well as organizational performance and public policy issues. Describing itself as "objective" and "non-partisan", th ...

from 2004 to 2011. She is also a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Council for Clean Capitalism. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. Her quotes and observations were included in the 2009 book ''Made in Canada Leadership: Wisdom from the Nation's Best and Brightest on the Art and Practice of Leadership''.

Honors and awards

In 2014 she was named one of the Top 50 Women of Influence in Canada's Life Insurance Industry by ''The Insurance and Investment Journal'' and one of the Top 25 Women of Influence by the Women of Influence organization.

Personal

She and her husband, Bernie Mutter, have four sons. Bardswick credits her husband's willingness to work from home for her ability to pursue her career. They reside in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

Selected articles

* (with Steward Elgie and David Miller)

References

External links

2013 interview with Kathy Bardswick
Business in Motion Podcast {{DEFAULTSORT:Bardswick, Kathy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women chief executives McMaster University alumni University of Manitoba alumni People from Burlington, Ontario