Mairead Lavery

About

Recently retired from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2025, Mairead Lavery has proven to be a visionary leader who has created winning business strategies to seize business opportunities, inspired teams and developed trust with a wide range of stakeholders including Boards, Government and International Organizations.

Under her direction, Canada’s export credit agency facilitated over $100 billion in trade and investment annually by more than 30,000 Canadian companies doing business in 200 markets around the world. She pursued ambitious objectives domestically with a focus on Medium sized Canadian companies, emerging sectors of Canadian capability and on International expansion while achieving strong financial results, customer growth and employee satisfaction.

She was also the first woman to occupy EDC’s chief executive role in its 80-plus year history. Prior to joining EDC, Mairead held executive roles at Bombardier, including Vice President of Finance and Vice President Strategy, Business Development & Structured Finance during a significant period of capital expenditure and restructuring.

Mairead is currently a member of The Conference Board of Canada Board and is also a member of three advisory boards. In her role at EDC she was the Board Chair for the EDC subsidiary, FinDev Canada, Canada’s international development finance institution, a full member of the EDC Board, and a Board member of Ontario Global 100, creating opportunities for business leaders of Ontario mid-sized companies to accelerate growth.

She is a native of Northern Ireland, has a degree in Management and Accounting from Queen’s University Belfast, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. She has always been passionate about international business and since arriving in Canada outspoken about the opportunities and challenges facing Canadian companies in international trade. In 2015, Mairead experienced another very proud milestone: becoming a Canadian citizen. She currently resides in Montreal and is married to Martin who is a corporate pilot.