Notable Alumni

Anne Giardini, OC, QC, BA (Economics)

11th chancellor at Simon Fraser University

BA Economics and Political Science, 1980 

An executive, lawyer, director and writer, Anne Giardini was president of Weyerhaeuser Company Limited after serving as Weyerhaeuser's General Counsel. A long-time leader within Canada’s resource industry, she has served on many related boards including B.C.’s Council of Forest Industries, the Alberta Forest Products Association, the Forest Products Association of Canada, and Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and as Chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She currently serves on the boards of CMHC, TransLink, BC Achievement, and WWF-Canada among others and is an honorary patron of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada.

Giardini is the author of two novels and editor of a collection of writing advice. She has been Chair of the Vancouver Writers Festival and a board member of the Writers Trust of Canada. 

In 2009, Giardini was appointed Queen’s Council.  She received the Robert V.A. Jones Award in 2011 recognizing leadership in corporate counsel practice, and was named one of Canada's 25 most influential lawyers. Giardini was honoured with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and a Lexpert Zenith Award in 2013 and served as a member of the Federal Advisory Council for Promoting Women on Boards. In 2014 and again in 2016, she was recognized by WXN as one of Canada's 100 most powerful women. In 2015 she received a Western Canada General Counsel Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2016, Giardini was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions to the forestry sector, higher education and the literary community.

Giardini served on SFU's Board of Governors for five years before being appointed Chancellor in 2014. 

Giardini holds a B.A. in Economics from SFU, LL.B. from UBC, and LL.M. from Cambridge University (Trinity Hall). She has been married to Tony Giardini for more than 30 years, and they have three grown children.