Biography

Lynda White is President of McLeod White and Associates, founded in 2000. McLeod White and Associates Inc. is a company providing organizational development consulting services in the areas of change, diversity and leadership. Located in Montreal, Canada, McLeod White has done work in the private sector, the public sector, and non profit sector in both Canada and the United States and has worked in countries around the world. Some of this work has been done through strategic partnerships and some has been done by McLeod White and involve only Lynda White. Lynda works through strategic partnerships rather than employing consultants and professionals directly, as well as through McLeod White delivering directly to clients.

Prior to her current role and for approximately fourteen years through the end of 1999, Lynda was a Senior Human Resources Professional and team leader with global, corporate, and multijurisdictional responsibilities, of the Diversity and Employment Equity function with Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group. She and her group provided primary support to the Group’s businesses through organizational change initiatives and in building diversity into day to day operations of the organization, with focussed undertakings in the areas of gender, disability and diversity. Royal Bank is recognized globally, as a best practice organization which others seek to emulate, and is frequently benchmarked in the area of diversity.

Lynda has also been active in many diversity activities in addition to her corporate role. She has served as a member on Canadian Government Task Forces and has participated on both the Women’s Advisory Committee to the President of the Treasury Board of Canada, and on the Advisory Committee on Employment Equity to External Affairs. Following her participation at the Beijing conference, she participated in a United Nations meeting held to build upon recommendations to further and follow-up the work of the International Conference on Women in Beijing, Chine. She presented at International Labor Organization meetings, as part of an “expert” panel, the experience of the Canadian Banking Industry relating to issues of women in the workplace, representing both the Employers Association of Canada and the Canadian Bankers Association.

She has been a representative on behalf of the banking community, and disability community (in volunteer capacity), at various Parliamentary Committees on issues of Equality, Disability, and Human Rights. She is a past Chair of the Canadian Bankers Association Standing Committee on Employment Equity, a banking community working committee that worked at ways in which the industry, with all of Canada’s largest banks as members, would jointly enhance diversity in their organizations. In March 2000 Lynda was a Canadian member and business representative at the Round Table on Race and Immigration, with the Canadian and French Embassies in Paris, France.

She has worked as a member of a number of volunteer boards, including the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations; Boys and Girls Club of Westmount; the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work; the YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto; the Diversity Factor Magazine; and the Canadian Centre for Disability Studies. As well, she is a member of the Diversity Collegium, a group of leading North American diversity professionals, working together to advance and contribute to the field of diversity through research and learning.

Lynda has facilitated workshops on a range of Equality, Human Rights, Diversity, and Change issues, both inside Royal Bank and externally with North America and Internationally, for other corporations, government departments and non government organizations. She has had a number of articles published in Employment Equity and Diversity publications, Human Resources publications and textbooks, including the Equal Times newsletter, the Diversity Factor (US) and the textbook Personnel Management in Canada.

She continues to be a guest lecturer at Universities and a frequent speaker at professional conferences throughout Canada, the United States, and Internationally on equality, human rights, diversity and change topics. Her current responsibilities include providing consulting services to corporate, government and community clients to support them leading the process of organizational change, identifying and creating initiatives that will enhance their abilities to make and sustain change in their own environments.

Among Profession honors recognizing work that Lynda has led, are ASTD’s Valuing Differences Award for 1996 presented to Royal Bank of Canada and Julie O’Mara; the New York Film Festival Bronze Award for the non televised leader led training video “Diversity in Action”; two Employment Equity Awards of Merit from the Government of Canada; and personally Lynda was recognized with the Governor General’s Award of Merit for Community Service and Involvement.