Noella Milne, Co-Chair, Jake’s House Charitable Giving Cabinet
In addition to being the Jake’s House Charitable Giving Cabinet Co-Chair, Noella Milne is a Senior Partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where she practices in the Corporate Real Estate area with an emphasis on asset and share acquisitions and dispositions, mixed-use developments, joint ventures, ‘public-private’ transactions, financings, land development and other commercial real estate matters. Some of the major transactions she has worked on include the George Brown Waterfront Campus, Terminal 3 at Pearson Airport, the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Project, and the Panam Games Athletes Village site. Among her many accolades, Ms. Milne has been recognized in Chamber’s Global – The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Real Estate), the Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Real Estate Lawyers, and the Guide to World’s Leading Women in Business Law.
As a board member and subsequently as President and Honourary Life Director of the Canadian Club, Noella was instrumental in increasing the presence of women, as well as women’s insight, expertise and analysis at the Club. Noella ensured women leaders gained access to the podium and played a critical role in increasing the presence of women on the Board. In addition, Noella added social issues to the regular debates on business and politics, and hosted a ground-breaking not-for-profit benefit for an African charity helping HIV/Aids victims. For more than 25 years, Noella has been involved with the Children’s Aid Foundation, where, as Chair of the Board, she led a ground-breaking educational initiative that has enabled thousands of low-income youth to attend college and university through the establishment of the Education Scholarship Fund. As Chair of the George Brown College Foundation, Noella has played a significant role in promoting scholarships for low-income and immigrant youth and single mothers.
Noella has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of UNICEF Canada and has also served on the Board of Governors of St. Michael’s Hospital, the Children’s Aid Society, and the Board of the Ontario Science Centre among others. She currently sits on the Honorary Council of UNICEF Canada and has served on the Advisory Council of the Order of Ontario, the University of Toronto Law School’s Dean Advisory Council, the University of Toronto Alumni Committee as well as served on a Special Committee of Covenant House dealing with Human Sex Trafficking.
In 2010, Noella received the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for her work with mentoring women. She has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children’s Aid Foundation for her work with children over a twenty year span, and the Arbor Award from the University of Toronto. In 2012, Noella was appointed to the Order of Ontario in recognition of her continued and extraordinary dedication to the community and to charitable organizations and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. Noella has also been honoured by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the TrailBlazers/Trendsetters category, honoured for being a pioneer in her field and for her great contribution to Canadian Society, and has received the Ontario Volunteer Award from the Ontario Awards Secretariat in 2016 for her exemplary volunteer work over three decades. Recently, Noella was nominated by Canadian Lawyer Magazine for the 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada in the Changemakers Category and received the RBC Top 25 Immigrant Award in 2017 for Mentorship.
Most recently, Noella has been appointed Chancellor of George Brown College. In this role, Noella recognizes a perfect opportunity to continue her life-long passion and belief in the power of mentorship by establishing the Chancellor’s Mentorship Initiative. Through this initiative Noella will harness her numerous and diverse industry connections forged through a 30-year career in Law on Bay Street, as well as her deep connections through her Board and community involvement with the fifteen-plus charitable and Not-For-Profit organizations she has worked closely with during her career, to develop innovative and transformative mentoring initiatives between industry and the very diverse student body at George Brown College.
Born in Mumbai, India, Noella Milne arrived in Canada, alone, at the age of 17. While working full-time, she put herself through school at night. Noella is the mother of three children. She holds an LLB from the University of Toronto and is a Member of the Ontario Bar Association.
