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CCCA News Meet Geoffrey Creighton: The new CCCA chair on teamwork, goal-setting and the importance of looking on the lighter side. By Bev Cline eoffrey Creighton is serious about in litigation then 20 years in corporate and marketing and communications experts, Ga lot of things: being prepared, set- securities law before moving in-house at and so on,” he says. ting goals, planning ahead. But he IGM Financial in 2008. knows there are times when a sense of He found litigation at Torys to be pro- Moving in-house humour goes a long way. fessionally satisfying, but “sadly, it wasn’t a This experience led Creighton to the in- Humour, he has learned, is a good way good fit for me tempermentally.” He was house counsel position at IGM Financial, to diffuse a tense situation.“Sometimes if essentially “fighting” all day long. “My the fourth largest publicly traded asset I can transform a situation into one that's personality is such that I enjoy working management company in the world. It is a little lighter, we can move forward more with people in a collaborative setting,” he indirectly controlled by Power Corpora- easily in finding a solution,” says the new says.Also, “I found myself being more and tion of Canada. chair of CCCA, who also admits to being more drawn to the substance of my cor- Creighton manages two legal and compli- a fan of the Dilbert comic strip which porate cases rather than the process.” ance departments:Mackenzie Investments in “has become much more relevant now He made the switch to corporate and Toronto and Investors Group in Winnipeg. that I work in a company. commercial law and honed his expertise Together, they have a staff of approximately “The plot lines are sometimes too close in mergers and acquisitions, complex cor- 60, about 25 of whom are lawyers. He to reality,” he observes. porate finance and cross-border securities enjoys the challenges inherent in the legal Creighton is senior vice-president,gen- transactions. He also managed legal serv- issues in a significant public company, eral counsel and secretary and chief com- ices for numerous large projects involving including acting as legal counsel to three pliance officer at IGM Financial Inc. but publicly listed companies in capital mar- outside independent boards at the fund earlier in his career he seemed destined to kets, a background which he says pays companies and the public parent company. become a litigator. dividends in his current role. The in-house counsel role gives him “I did all the moots at [University of “I really like being engaged in doing the opportunity to be involved from the Toronto] law school and clerked at the deals and improving situations for clients, beginning of a matter and see it through Supreme Court.I was seen as a litigator-in- and working in a team approach with to completion. “It gives me a lot of per- training,” he recalls. He joined Torys LLP other professionals, including finance, sonal satisfaction to be part of a team that BRYAN LOCKYER inToronto,where he practised for five years accounting, information technology, gets the job done well.” 48 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2011