Charlene Butler is an accomplished Business Executive, and Board Director with over 30 years of experience leading and transforming organizations in a variety of sectors including the Energy, Insurance, Government, Non-profit and Consulting sectors. She has 20+ years' experience devising strategy and leading transformational change for organizations including Intact, Allianz Canada and Aviva Insurance and an additional 10+ years as an entrepreneur and independent consultant advising on strategic planning, enterprise risk management, organizational optimization, and evaluation.
During her first 12 months as AVP for Aviva revenue growth increased from -5% to +19% generating +$110M in revenue and +$23M in profit, staff turnover reduced from 18% to 8% and customer satisfaction improved by 35%. As AVP for Allianz she stopped revenue runoff and realized profitable growth within eight months and managed the organization through a merger with Intact.
Charlene's Energy Sector experience includes 11 years as a risk manager, energy underwriter, laboratory manager, and chemist. Her experience with organizations includes the Government of Alberta, Chubb Insurance, Core Laboratories and CEDA Reactor Ltd. She holds an MBA specializing in Natural Resources, Energy and Environment and her Chemical Technology Diploma. She is also a mentor to several clean-tech start-up companies.
Charlene is a full-time board director with +12 years' experience and a focus on providing boards with an understanding of how environmental social governance and enterprise risk management need to be incorporated into strategy if businesses are to thrive, not just survive in a rapidly changing world. She is a passionate believer that organizations have a leadership role to play in changing the global picture and that organizations that consider long-term strategies and incorporate ESG will outperform those that do not.
Charlene is Past-Chair of the Alberta Automobile Insurance Regulatory Board with responsibility for all aspects of automobile insurance rating in the province.
Her previous roles with the University of Alberta include Chair of the Finance and Property Committee, Vice-Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and past member of the Investment Committee with oversight into +$2B in investments. As Chair of the Finance and Property Committee, she was responsible for an annual budget near $2B and helped the organization significantly transform to account for a 3-year, $222M decrease in funding and to position it for future growth. Her role with the Audit and Risk Committee included oversite into ERM and ESG.
As the first and only public member of the Bow Valley Primary Care Network, she brings the much-needed outside perspective to the attention of the board that aids them in making patient-centric decisions. Her other recent appointments include the Actuarial Profession Oversight Board and Chatterhigh.
Charlene mentors entrepreneurs through Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service, Venture Mentoring Service Alberta, Plug & Play and Venturepark Labs and is an angel investor and passionate about the startup community.