Suromitra Sanatani
- Category: Presidents’ Alumni Award
- UVic degree: Bachelor of Arts in French, 1985
- Current hometown: Vancouver, BC
- Birthplace: Bonn, Germany
About Suromitra
Suromitra Sanatani trained as a lawyer and began her career in litigation before transitioning to senior corporate positions in the non-profit, public and private sectors.
As an independent corporate director, she currently serves on several boards including the Royal Bank Global Asset Management Independent Review Committee, RBC Indigo Independent Review Committee, the Vancouver Airport Authority, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and Purolator Holdings. Previously, she served on the boards of Canada Post, Canadian Blood Services, the Royal BC Museum, Travel Alberta and the Edmonton and Victoria International Airports. Having lived and worked in four different provinces, Suromitra says she brings a different perspective to strategic governance discussions. “I enjoy helping build boards that bring out the best in people so we can then focus on building great organizations.”
One of her most significant leadership contributions has been to successfully champion equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives within many of the organizations she has served. While board chair at Canada Post, she received the 2024 Women’s Executive Network Canadian Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Chair of the Board Award for her efforts in ushering in a five-year strategy to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Impact of UVic
“I did an arts degree where we were constantly challenged to look at things from different perspectives. It set me up well for my subsequent legal studies. That’s what I've enjoyed doing throughout my career—questioning and learning about different points of view…. the importance of having a sense of context and exposure to diverse ways of thinking. It's still relevant in all my work.”
Talent spotting
“It’s important to realize you are not the smartest person in the room. Everyone on the team has an area of expertise that is stronger than the other people. Spotting that talent and knowing how to bring that individual out to participate, that's a real skill.”
Be more interested than interesting
“Be curious and figure out how you can contribute, and pay more attention to being interested than interesting. As you get to know people, once in a while you will discover someone who, for some unfathomable reason to you, actually believes in you. Engaging them as a mentor could be quite invaluable.”
Passion for inclusion and engagement
“I always operated in a world where it was mainly white men, and still very much do… I had to step up so people would accept that I'm allowed to not only be in this room, but that I’m also allowed to lead the room… Later on, we started talking more about attracting talent and the importance of having diverse points of view reflected in the boardroom. From that point on, things really began to change.”
Speed round...
Something I do to relax: We have a remote property off-grid, and being in the garden in the middle of a forest is amazing. There's nothing more restorative for me than being there.
Secret talent: I’m a bit of a calendar savant for unusual and not particularly useful pieces of information. I remember all kinds of birthdays and I know when my childhood friend went on her first date with her boyfriend in grade 11. She doesn't remember, but I do.
Talent I wish I possessed: I'd love to be a great singer and really belt it out.
Something great I’ve read recently: Anne Michael's Held. She just received the Giller prize for that work. Her writing is like poetry. And she writes in this book, as she did in some of her other pieces, about the trauma of war and grief… But even with all that war and destruction, hope remains ever present. I found that so relevant.
One cool thing about where I live: It’s the contrast between where I live downtown and our off-grid property. I walk outside downtown and hear all kinds of languages and see people from all over the world. And then I go to our off-grid property, and there's nobody around. There are whales instead of shops. If we happen to forget the butter—there's no butter. I love the contrast between the two places that I call home.
What I’m grateful for: My university education at UVic. As people say, I've got the tattoo; I was a student, I served on the board of governors, I am a donor, and I married the president. I don't know what else I can do.
About the UVic Alumni Awards
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