Claudette McGowan was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 5:15 p.m. ceremony on Thursday, June 23, “in recognition of a distinguished career as a global information technology leader.”
McGowan has more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and security experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank. McGowan began her career at BMO in 2000 and held multiple senior leadership roles including chief information officer, Enterprise Technology Experience and vice-president of Digital Workspace Services. In 2020, she joined TD Bank as global executive officer, Protect Fusion and Cyber Experience.
McGowan also writes books for children and is the founder of the Black Arts & Innovation Expo.
McGowan is the recipient of several prestigious awards including being named in the Top 100 Leaders in FinTech from FinTech Magazine and the Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity from IT World Canada.
In 2020, McGowan was recognized in the sixth edition of Bay Street Bull’s POWER 50 issue. Toronto Life recognized her as one of the city’s Top 50 Most Influential Torontonians, Women’s Executive Network honoured her as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, Adweek heralded McGowan as a Toronto Brand Star and the Digital Finance Institute recognized her as one of the Top 50 Canadian Women in FinTech.
McGowan holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lakehead University, a Master of Business Administration from Athabasca University, certificates in artificial intelligence, IT management, project management and smart buildings from Rotman, Ontario Tech University, Schulich School of Business and Harvard Graduate School of Design respectively.