Mairead Lavery

Mairead Lavery

Associate

Recently retired from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2025,  Mairead Lavery has proven to be a visionary leader, who has created  winning business strategies to seize business opportunities, inspired  teams and developed trust with a wide range of stakeholders including  Boards, Government and International Organizations.  

Under her direction, Canada’s export credit agency (EDC) facilitated  over $100 billion in trade and investment annually by more than 30,000  Canadian companies doing business in 200 markets around the world.  She pursued ambitious objectives domestically with a focus on  Medium sized Canadian companies, emerging sectors of Canadian  capability and on International expansion while achieving strong  financial results, customer growth and employee satisfaction. 

She was also the first woman to occupy EDC’s chief executive role in its  80-plus year history. Prior to joining EDC, Mairead held executive roles  at Bombardier, including Vice President of Finance and Vice President  

Strategy, Business Development & Structured Finance during a  significant period of capital expenditure and restructuring. 

Mairead is currently a member of the Conference Board of Canada  Board and an independent Director for Payments Canada. She is also  a proud member of the Canadian Advisory Council for the Northern  Ireland Department of the Economy which was established in  September 2024. She is an advisor on Project Arrow – an APMA  initiative to showcase Canadian Automotive technology . 

She is a native of Northern Ireland, has a degree in Management and  Accounting from Queen’s University Belfast, and is a Fellow of the  Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. She has always been  passionate about international business and since arriving in Canada in 2000 has been a passionate advocate for the opportunities and  challenges facing Canadian companies in international trade. 

In 2015, Mairead experienced another very proud milestone: becoming  a Canadian citizen. She currently resides in Montreal and is married to  Martin who is a corporate pilot.