Director, Communications - Capital Markets (BMus)

Kathryn Lawler, CIBC

By: Oindrilla Sanyal, Outreach and Support Peer

Kathryn Lawler graduated from Laurier with an Honours Bachelor of Music degree studying voice. Following graduation, Kathryn taught English in Japan for a year while deciding what to pursue for her post-graduation education. Upon returning to Canada, Kathryn began studying for her LSAT to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer, which she had in mind since childhood. However, while preparing for her LSAT, she had an influential conversation with a friend who encouraged her to explore public relations given the profession's creativity. Kathryn had led some communications initiatives with the Board of Directors for the Community Music School of Waterloo Region during her undergraduate degree and she soon realized the potential fit. Kathryn proceeded to attend the public relations post-graduate certificate at Humber College, which helped pave the path to her current success.

Kathryn’s undergraduate training involved an intense classical music conservatory training program that taught her to absorb high volumes of information quickly and exposed her to constructive critiques and training in her presentation and public speaking skills. This rigorous training has been an invaluable asset to her professional life. Kathryn’s professional journey is distinctive and varied, as she boldly ventured into the communications field. Starting from a music degree to becoming a leader in communications proves that career paths can be unique and non-linear. Kathryn encourages students to embrace risks and explore diverse paths, even careers that may not be seen as ‘connected’ to your degree as the transferable skills you develop in your studies, regardless of your major, can be applied to a wide range of roles.

After her PR training, Kathryn interned with Enterprise Canada, a top national strategic communications firm in Canada and quickly worked her way to consultant, working for high-profile clients in finance, education, and transit, specializing in crisis communications, media training, and media relations. She then transitioned in-house to the financial industry, joining CIBC on the Public Affairs team.

Holding progressively more senior roles over the past six years, Kathryn is currently the Director of Communications for Capital Markets at CIBC. She manages internal and external communications across Capital Markets, supporting the global businesses and the executive team. Her portfolio is broad and her main role is to provide advice on communication strategies both internally and externally for the businesses and executives, as well as managing media interviews. Her job is highly strategic work that requires creativity, efficiency, and critical thinking skills. Examples of work she’s done throughout her career include responses to crises, coordinating media interviews, drafting materials to be shared with media outlets, and advising on communications plans both internally and externally.

Kathryn notes that the key to success in the communications industry is to be proactive and learn the art of prioritizing tasks and finessing your time management, in addition to strengthening your relationship skills. Proactively using slower periods to work ahead is important as communications roles can be fast-paced, and a lot of time-sensitive deadlines can emerge all at once.

Kathryn’s career advice to current students is to connect with alumni through coffee chats, which will help you learn the importance of networking – building connections while learning about different industries and roles. An early mentor once told Kathryn, “Your network is your net worth” and she has seen firsthand the power of being proactive in developing connections and networking.