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Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Poonam Puri has been inducted as a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), a prestigious organization dedicated to governance excellence, in recognition of her governance leadership in Canada.
Created in in 1997, the ICD Fellowship Award – the organization’s highest honour – is presented annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Canadian enterprises and not-for-profit organizations by bringing strong corporate governance leadership to boardrooms across the country.
Since the award was launched, only 108 Canadian governance leaders have received it, earning Puri a very exclusive spot and representing another milestone in an already accomplished career.
Since Puri joined Osgoode in 1997, at the age of 25, she has taught and produced significant scholarly research on corporate accountability and responsibility, directors’ duties and diversity in leadership, among other areas of research leadership in corporate law and governance. She has received $5 million in external research and program funding.
Puri co-founded and served as academic director of the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic and the Living Research Lab, a clinic that both provides pro bono legal assistance to individuals who have suffered financial harm and collects real-time data for scholarly research. She is also the founder and director of the Professional LLM in Business Law at Osgoode Professional Development.
In addition to being a former associate dean of research, graduate studies and institutional relations, she is also currently the Chair of York University’s Senate. In 2023, she was named a Tier 1 York Research Chair in Corporate Governance, Investor Protection and Financial Markets, allowing her to continue her research leadership, delving deep into projects on environmental, social, and governance issues and their backlash, as well as corporate governance and artificial intelligence.
The ICD Fellowship Award is only the latest award in Puri’s career, as she has been previously recognized with the Governance Professionals of Canada Peter Dey Governance Achievement Award, the Attorney General of Ontario’s David Walter Mundell Medal, the Royal Society of Canada’s Yvan Allaire Medal and the Law Society of Ontario’s Law Society Medal, among other distinctions. She has also previously been named one of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers and one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 leaders.
In the community, Puri currently serves on multiple boards, including the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital – the latter as Chair. She has previously served as a commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission and on the boards of the Women’s College Hospital and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (Pearson Airport), among others.
Further information about her career and recognitions can be found on the Osgoode Hall Law School website.