SNC-Lavalin appoints executive vice president and general counsel

SNC-Lavalin selected Charlene Ripley for the appointment of executive vice president and general counsel where Ripley will be based in Montreal, Québec, Canada, reporting to the interim president and CEO and joining the Executive Committee.  

Prior to joining SNC-Lavalin, Ripley led her team at Goldcorp Inc. as the executive vice president and general counsel for six years. In her role, she was responsible for developing and implementing a company-wide anti-bribery compliance program. She also led the legal, ethics and compliance, human resources and internal audit departments. 

“I would like to welcome Charlene on board and wish her well as we embrace our journey to excellence across all our businesses,” said Ian Edwards, interim president and CEO, SNC-Lavalin. “Her proven track record speaks for itself; her experience will be invaluable for SNC-Lavalin as we continue our path to deliver on our new strategic direction.” 

Ripley has won many awards including the 2018 Business in Vancouver Influential Women in Business Award, the 2017 Expert Zenith Award for Diversity Celebrating Women in Law, and the Women’s Executive Network Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award in 2016 and 2015. 

Ripley will be replacing Hartland Paterson who joined the company in 2015. He reorganized the legal function and drove several important successes and changes, such as bringing the legal and integrity functions into close collaboration and ensuring there was a greater focus on gender equality.  

He also provided valuable support on various acquisitions and joint ventures, alongside other corporate transactions over the past four years. He will retire on Dec. 30, 2019. 

“I would like to thank Hartland for his considerable efforts and input over the last four years and wish him all the best for the future,” Edwards said. “His contributions to SNC-Lavalin will surely be remembered.”