Board Member Bio

Georges Dessaulles

Compliance and Business Ethics Consultant

Chair

Mr. Dessaulles obtained his law degree from McGill University and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1974. He worked as in-house legal counsel at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), including assignments in Montreal, Miami and Toronto. His practice involved the negotiation and drafting of lending, sale and purchase and other agreements nationally and internationally and the management of relationships with external counsel. In 1994, he was appointed Vice President, Corporate Compliance responsible for maintaining compliance assurance programs in federal banking & securities and federal privacy matters. He acted as RBC's Privacy Officer from 1994 to 1999. In 2003, he was appointed Compliance Director-RBC Canadian Banking responsible for overseeing compliance with Federal consumer banking laws and regulations and managing RBC's relationship with the relevant Federal government regulators and Canadian Banking Privacy matters. His role expanded in 2004 when he assumed compliance oversight over the Business Banking side of RBC's Canadian Banking business and leadership of a team of compliance professionals. Prior to joining RBC, he was in private practice in Montreal. Mr. Dessaulles is a Director of the Canadian Centre for Ethics & Corporate Policy, chairs its Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of the Executive and Events Committees. He is currently on the Advisory Committee of the Corporate Ethics Management Council of The Conference Board of Canada and has been involved with the Council since 1997. He is a director of the Club canadien. He has spoken frequently on compliance matters both in Canada and internationally and has been a guest lecturer at several well known Canadian universities. He is currently a member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and of the Canadian Bar Association.