Naki Osutei is appointed as the Executive in Residence at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management

BY PAUL JUNOR

Rotman School of Management is described as a global centre for research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose; to create value for business and society.

Ms. Osutei completed a Master of Arts, Social and Applied Human Sociology with a focus on Marketing, Semiotics and Canadian Multiculturalism. She brings a wealth of management experience to her role having served in several leadership capacities over the years. She worked as Vice President, Strategy for the Greater Toronto Civic Action, which was previously known as the Toronto City Summit Alliance. She then served as Director, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Social Legacy Programs for TORONTO 2015 Pan Am and Parapan as well as Director of Human Affairs. She transitioned into the financial sector industry as Director, Executive Talent Management at CIBC from 2015 to 2017.

Currently, she works for TD bank where she has been involved in various senior management positions. She started as Associate Vice President, Partnership and Engagement in 2017 to help it develop the Ready Commitment, TD’s global corporate citizenship platform. She was promoted to Vice President, Social Impact Canada TD ‘s Global Corporate Citizenship CPB Strategy in September 2021.

Ms Osutei has acquired a wealth of volunteer experiences over the years. She has served in varied volunteer roles with: West Neighbourhood House, Seneca College’s Board of Governors, BMW Foundation’s Responsible Leaders Forum, TEDxToronto, and the University of Guelph. She has been an inspirational speaker in many corporate, community and political events. Three impact objectives have guided her professional, volunteer and academic experiences. They include the following:

1. Supporting the development of leaders, particularly racialized leaders
2. Dismantling and re-defining prevalent views of who is perceived as a leader
3. Connecting institutions and individuals to facilitate positive change and opportunity

Her leadership skills were shown when she co-founded the DiverseCity Fellows “Civic MBA” and brought leaders together to, “Address challenges facing the Toronto Region’s social and economic future.” The press release from Rotman School states, she is “A speaker in the Leading School Innovation and Impact in the C-Suite elective courses in the MBA program, as well as the Leading Across Differences elective at the Rotman Commerce program. She is also a part of the Speaker Spotlight in the Leading Social Justice Fellowship led by Rotman Professor Nouman Ashraf at the University’s School of Cities.”