Colleen Johnston, group head finance and chief financial officer of TD Bank Group, has been selected as Canada’s CFO of the Year for 2012.
The award is presented annually by Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada), PwC and Robert Half International. The award honours and recognizes the quality, insight, direction and leadership of Canada’s senior financial executives.
“Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Canada’s CFO of the Year Award recognizes a financial leader who demonstrated an outstanding fiscal performance in a complex business environment and exemplary contributions. Colleen Johnston is a true testament to this,” says Michael Conway, chief executive and national president, FEI Canada. “Ms. Johnston truly epitomizes the modern CFO by applying a strategic approach to the opportunities and challenges that arise while making significant contributions to her community. This makes her one of Canada’s top financial leaders.”
Johnston was named Canada’s CFO of the Year by an independent committee, chaired by Peter Dey, chairman of Paradigm Capital, and composed of some of Canada’s most prominent business leaders. The judging criteria are as follows: vision and leadership; corporate reporting and performance; social responsibility; innovation and business complexity. Award candidates from a wide range of business sectors were nominated by CEOs, members of boards of directors, financial analysts and other senior executives.
Johnston first joined TD Bank Group in March 2004 as executive vice president, finance operations, after spending 15 years with Scotiabank in various senior positions. She was later appointed to TD’s top financial post in November 2005. After her appointment to CFO, Johnston restructured TD Bank Group’s entire finance department, seeking to focus less on numbers, more on playing key decision-making roles in the bank’s most important initiatives, including TD’s expansion into the U.S.