Jackie Sheppard
Independent Board Chair
Former Executive Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs, Talisman Energy Inc.
Calgary, Alberta
Jackie Sheppard joined the Emera Board of Directors in 2009 and was appointed Chair in 2014. She was also a Director of the Company’s subsidiary, Emera Newfoundland and Labrador Holdings Inc. until 2016.
As the former Executive Vice President, Corporate & Legal at Talisman Energy Inc., Jackie was responsible for legal affairs, business development, mergers and acquisitions, corporate projects, corporate communications, investor relations, corporate responsibility and government affairs.
In addition to the Emera Board, Jackie is a Director of Suncor Energy Inc., a Canadian integrated energy company. She is also a Director of ARC Resources Ltd., a publicly traded Canadian energy company.
Jackie was founder and Lead Director of Black Swan Energy Inc., an Alberta upstream energy company that was sold in 2021. Jackie previously served as Chair of the Research and Development Corporation of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, a provincial crown corporation. She is a former Director of Seven Generations Energy Ltd., a publicly traded energy company focused on Canadian natural gas development, as well as Cairn Energy PLC, a publicly traded UK-based international upstream company. Jackie is also a former Director of Alberta Investment Management Corporation (“AIMCo”), an institutional investment manager.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial University, Jackie became a Rhodes Scholar receiving an Honors Jurisprudence, Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Oxford University. She earned her Bachelor of Laws (Honors) from McGill University and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Memorial University.
Jackie is an active presenter on the topics of higher education, corporate governance and equal opportunity for women in business. She was a long-time member and Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for Alberta and the Prairie Region and has served on the Advisory Council of the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. She has been a member of the Memorial University Alumni Board in Calgary which annually raises student funding.
In recognition of her significant achievements and contributions to her community, Ms. Sheppard was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by the Women’s Executive Network and the National Post from 2002-2007 and has been admitted to the Network’s Hall of Fame. In honour of her exceptional merit and integrity in the legal profession, Jackie was appointed the Queen’s Counsel designation in 2008.