Melissa Kennedy

Melissa Kennedy is responsible for Sun Life’s worldwide legal, compliance, public affairs and geopolitical functions and is a member of the company’s International Executive Team. She has deep expertise in geopolitical risk, sustainability, international M&A, regulation and public policy, high-profile litigation and crisis management, and is a global business leader with extensive experience in the financial sector.

Melissa joined Sun Life in 2014 with a breadth of experience spanning private practice, regulatory and in-house roles. Prior to joining Sun Life, she was Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Affairs for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, and has held senior positions as head of the prosecution team at the Ontario Securities Commission and Vice-President of Litigation and Regulatory investigations at CIBC.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Melissa is a founding member of Legal Leaders for Diversity, an association of General Counsel influencing change in the profession. She currently serves on the boards of SickKids Foundation, the world’s top publicly funded children’s hospital; Soulpepper Theatre Company, Canada’s leading artist theatre company; and the Asia Pacific Foundation, a policy think tank promoting Canadian-Asian relations and understanding. 

She was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Toronto, and has received other awards recognizing her contributions.