Robert (Bob) McFarlane, ICD.D
National Academic Director and Lead Instructor
Director, Economical Insurance;
Chair, Audit, Risk & Conduct Committee, HSBC Bank Canada;
Chair, UBC Information Technology Advisory Council;
Chair, Capital Assets & Finance Committee, Board of Trustees of Queen’s University;
Vice Chair, BC Chapter Executive, Institute of Corporate Directors
With an accomplished career of value creation as one of Canada’s leading executives, Robert Macfarlane has been a proponent of corporate governance best practices with two dozen years of corporate board service.
Bob became CFO of start-up national wireless carrier Clearnet for its 1994 IPO and quarterbacked the raising of over $3 billion in financings. Following its $7.7 billion (enterprise value) acquisition in 2000, he served as CFO of TELUS until 2013. In 2007, he was named Canada’s Top CFO. Bob serves on the board of HSBC Bank Canada where he chairs the Audit, Risk & Conduct Committee. Since November 2018, he has been a member of the board of Economical Insurance.
Previously, Bob served as Audit & Risk Chair of Entertainment One (a former LSE listed entity until its acquisition by Hasbro), TSX listed InnVest REIT, as well as Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) Canada.
In the NFP sector, he chairs the UBC Information Technology Advisory Council (since 2014) and serves on the Board of Trustees of Queen’s University where he currently Chairs the Capital Assets & Finance Committee. In addition, Mr. McFarlane volunteers with The Salvation Army as Chair of its Greater Vancouver Advisory Board.
Bob also serves on the Executive of the BC Chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors as Vice Chair. He has been frequent moderator and panelist on corporate governance sessions and webinars on topics including corporate culture, digital strategy, corporate purpose beyond profit, designing an effective board, ethical oversight, oversight of enterprise risk management, oversight of large complex projects, etc.
Bob holds a Commerce degree from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University and an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University.