kelly Davis
Chief People Officer
Kelly is the inaugural Chief People Officer (CPO) at Gowling WLG, where she is tasked with advancing the firm’s people-first commitment and fostering a work environment that encourages learning, collaboration and community building. Kelly leads the firm’s HR, Legal Talent, DEI, Wellness, Total Rewards and Learning & Development functions.
Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Kelly was the Chief People Officer for Sunwing Travel Group, North America’s largest vertically-integrated travel company with approximately 24,000 employees across fourteen countries. The group consisted of several business lines including a leisure charter airline, two major North American tour operators in Canada and the United States, Blue Diamond Hotels & Resorts with over 14,500 rooms (Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Eastern Caribbean, Cuba and Costa Rica), a vacation club, a luxury wedding business and an international destination management company.
Prior to this role, Kelly was the Senior Vice President of HR, Customer Service and Communications for Town Shoes Limited (operating five retail brands across Canada) and led the HR function through several ownership models including founder-led, private equity and the eventual sale to the large publicly traded U.S. retailer Designer Shoe Warehouse based in Columbus, Ohio. Before joining Town Shoes Limited, she was the Vice President of People Development at Cara Operations (one of Canada’s largest restaurant groups) where she worked with the corporate office and franchise partners to deliver HR services to the company’s 700+ restaurants and 30,000 employees. Kelly spent the early part of her career with the Hudson’s Bay Company where she worked for over 12 years in a variety of progressive HR roles covering all of Canada and New York City.
Kelly holds her B.A. from McGill University and her CHRE, CHRL and H.R.C.C.C. (Human Resources & Compensation Committee Certification) designations. Kelly is on the board of the Strategic Capability Network and is a member of the International Women’s Forum of Canada. Kelly is passionate about supporting not for profit organizations. She spent a six-year board term as a Board Director and Chair of the HR & Governance Committee for White Ribbon (the world’s largest movement working to end gender-based violence). From 2020-2022 she served as a volunteer with the Black North Initiative as the Co-Chair of their CEO Pledge Committee. Previously she has also volunteered with a variety of other not for profits including Eva’s Initiatives, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Pathways to Education where she was an at risk youth group mentor.
Kelly was recognized by HRD Magazine in both 2020 and 2022 on their 100 Global Top HR leaders list and in 2023 she was nominated as one of the top 10 Global Chief HR & Chief People Officers supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by DiversityCan Magazine.
Kelly is married with two sons and lives in Toronto.