Rahul Bhardwaj, LL.B, ICD.D
President & CEO
Institute of Corporate Directors
As President and CEO of the Institute of Corporate Directors, Rahul Bhardwaj leads an organization of more than 17,300 members committed to improving national outcomes by growing the board leadership and governance capacities within Canadian businesses, agencies and not-for-profits.
Mr. Bhardwaj currently serves on the boards of Waterfront Toronto, the Institute of Corporate Directors, the Canadian Foundation for Governance Research, and the Leadership Council at the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership at Ivey Business School. He is also a Director Emeritus of the Rideau Hall Foundation.
He is a member of the Executive Committee, and past Chair of the Global Network of Director Institutes, a global network representing more than 150,000 directors which is focused on enhancing the capability of directors to drive sustainable performance for the benefit of shareholders, the economy and society.
Other past board commitments include Chair of the 2012 Ontario Summer Games, Co-chair of TO2015 IGNITE, a program of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am & Parapan Am Games, a founding board member of Metrolinx and Chair of the Governance Committee, Chair of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Chair of Community Foundations of Canada, Upper Canada College, George Brown College, Stratford Festival of Canada and United Way of Toronto, among others.
Before joining the ICD, Mr. Bhardwaj was a corporate lawyer at a leading Canadian law firm, and then later, President and CEO of the Toronto Foundation, where he focused on engaging in philanthropy to improve the quality of life in Toronto. He was also Vice President of the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid and, as part of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Fiscal review panel in 2008, Mr. Bhardwaj identified efficiencies for the City of Toronto.
In 2012, Mr. Bhardwaj’s commitment to city building was recognized as he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Toronto Life magazine named him one of “The 50 Most Influential” people in the city, and he was named to the Quadrangle Society at Massey College.