Gabrielle Laurier · Chief Operating Officer · Canada
My contribution would be to help a board test whether the measures it receives describe the experience of the people the organisation serves. Most boards see service standards, supplier reports and continuity plans. Fewer ask when the clock starts, who actually performs an outsourced task, or which single failure could silence the organisation for a day. I have answered those questions as an executive before a risk committee, and I have seen how much depends on a committee asking them. I would bring practical knowledge of claims operations, bilingual service, outsourcing oversight and workforce succession, together with an understanding of how a Quebec insurer's obligations to the AMF, to its members and under fair-treatment expectations shape everyday operating choices. I am not an actuary, an investment professional or an accountant, and I would rely on colleagues with those skills on reserves, capital and financial reporting. On a risk or audit committee I would expect to be most useful on operational, outsourcing and conduct risk.
Presented to the Board or a committee
Board of directors: annual operations plan and continuity exercise results
April 2021–present
Presents the operations plan each year and answered directors' questions during the 2023 debate on keeping the Sudbury centre; attends as an executive, not as a director.
Reported to a committee
Risk committee: quarterly operational and outsourcing risk report
April 2021–present
Reports turnaround by language, supplier incidents, the subcontractor register and continuity test results every quarter.
Served as a director
Cooperative board, with a seat on its finance and audit committee
June 2019–present
Volunteer director of a work-integration cooperative training about sixty adults a year; reviews budgets, funding agreements and audit findings. It has no commercial relationship with Vireloux.
| Capacity | Committees |
|---|---|
| Ready to join | Risk · Audit · Human resources and succession |
I am looking for a first independent seat on the board of an organisation that delivers a service people rely on at difficult moments: a credit union, a pension or benefits administrator, a non-competing insurer, or a cooperative or public body serving people in French and English. I would join a risk or audit committee initially and would not expect to chair one in a first term. Organisations regulated by the AMF, OSFI or another provincial regulator assess a director's competence and integrity before and after appointment, and I would welcome that review. I can commit about twenty-two days a year. I would prefer an organisation large enough to have a dedicated risk function but small enough that a director can understand its operations in person within the first year. Before accepting, I would want to know why the vacancy exists and what the board hopes a new director will notice that its current members have not.
When a management report shows a turnaround figure, I ask when counting begins and what is excluded. At Vireloux our disability report looked healthy because it began with a complete file; a director who had asked that question would have found the gap a year earlier. On another board I would ask for a small number of service measures counted from the customer's first contact, with the causes of delay separated between the organisation, its suppliers and third parties. I would not ask management to redesign every report. One honest measure, properly explained, is worth more than a page of favourable ones. I would also ask how complaints and appeals connect with the turnaround figures, because a fast decision that is later reversed is not good service and should never be reported as if it were.
The Tessaroc renewal showed me that a contract register can be accurate and still incomplete. As a director I would ask management which critical services rely on subcontractors, where personal information is processed and when the exit plans for critical arrangements were last tested. I would expect the answers to rest on evidence, such as staffing plans and access logs, rather than on supplier attestations alone. I would also want to know how quickly a material supplier issue reaches the committee. In our case I waited until a response had been agreed, and I would now expect a chair to hear about such a matter within days, with the facts known so far and the questions still open, even if management's answer was not yet ready.
In my first months I would read two years of board and committee papers, paying particular attention to the measures management uses for service, outsourcing and continuity. I would ask to visit the places where customers are served, spend a day with front-line staff and listen to calls if the organisation permits it. I would meet the chief risk officer, the head of internal audit and the executive responsible for suppliers, and ask each of them what they believe the board does not see. I would keep my early questions within the committee and avoid steering management directly. By the end of the year I would hope to have helped improve one aspect of how the board receives operational information, perhaps a turnaround measure counted from first contact or a review of single points of failure, and I would ask the chair for frank feedback on whether my questions had been useful.
My main conflict is competitive. Vireloux sells group benefits and individual insurance in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, so I would not join the board of another insurer or benefits administrator competing for the same plan sponsors. I would also review relationships with Vireloux's suppliers, including document, telephony and claims-network providers, and with brokers and benefits advisers who place business with us. If an organisation buys from or sells to Vireloux, I would disclose that to both boards and leave related discussions; where such discussions would be frequent, I would decline the seat. My directorship at Coopérative Brivaline involves no commercial relationship with Vireloux, and I would disclose it in any case. Under Vireloux's policy on external mandates, I would need written consent from our chief executive and board before accepting. Information from each organisation would stay with that organisation.
Neither I nor my family holds a financial interest in, or a commercial tie to, any organisation I am considering. Whether I am independent of a particular board is for that board to judge under its governing law and by-laws, and I would give it a full list of Vireloux's relevant suppliers and distribution partners to make that judgement properly.
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
The IICA Independent Directors' Databank is an Indian register for people seeking independent seats on Indian companies. I am considering Canadian organisations only, so it does not apply to me and I have not registered; this status records that plainly.