Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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41 canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse february 2015 P ro f e s s i o n a l P ro f i l e As it turned out, she stayed only nine months with the airline. When Air Canada spun off its rewards program in 2006-07, "I realized pretty quickly that my heart belonged with the Aeroplan business." She got in touch with Mark Hounsell, who was general counsel of Aeroplan, and he immediately hired her to do commercial work. In 2009, she was named to the 10-member executive team for Canada — the market that still generates most of its revenues — and, in 2011, was promoted to vice president and general counsel for Canada. (The same year, Groupe Aeroplan, the parent company, was re-branded as Aimia Inc.) Greenberg feels "privileged" to have a broader canvas than many in-house lawyers at other corporations. The bi-weekly executive meetings for Aimia Canada have exposed her to non-legal matters such as operations, finance, strategy, and business development. "I'm often involved in special projects," she says. "There is constant intellectual challenge and growth." The most significant litigation she has worked on during her years at the company has been a class action filed in 2009 and certified in 2012 by the Quebec Superior Court. The plaintiffs are customers upset with Aeroplan's (former) cancellation of frequent-flyer miles that went unused for seven years. The ongoing lawsuit demands that Aeroplan reinstate expired points, and compensate consumers. "There's been times when I've been very consumed with that particular file," she says, "and times when my team is consumed with the day- to-day details and I'm just brought in when strategy needs to be discussed." There was plenty of strategy discussed last year when Aeroplan realigned its partnerships. Greenberg was part of Aimia's five-person negotiating team that included executives from finance, strategy, and from time-to-time, Canadian CEO Vince Timpano. They took their cues from Aimia's board of directors. As Aimia's deals with CIBC and American Express headed toward expiry on the last day of 2013, says Greenberg, "There was a hard, hard deadline we had to work backwards from to negotiate these deals." In anticipation of protracted bargaining, she bolstered her legal team. By hiring two senior lawyers (for a total of six reporting to her), she ensured that her team could handle the day-to-day issues that arose in the rest of the Canadian business while she focused on the talks with CIBC, TD, Amex, and Air Canada. "We all thought we would negotiate, and we would get a deal with TD, but that's not where it ended. It became far more complex than it would have been if CIBC had either matched or not matched [the TD offer]. It became a whole different transaction. We had to renegotiate with TD and negotiate again with CIBC." Greenberg says it was "intellectually challenging but draining to go through that long period." For a year, she worked seven days a week, from 7 a.m. until midnight or later. "It would be unsustainable to go on like that indefinitely," she says, "but I would do it again. I'm up for anything." IH 2015 ONTARIO LAWYER'S PHONE BOOK With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. More detail and a wider scope of legal contact information for Ontario than any other source: ȕ 0WFS27,000 lawyers listed ȕ 0WFS9,000 law firms and corporate offices listed ȕ 'BYBOEUFMFQIPOFOVNCFSTFNBJMBEESFTTFTPGȮDFMPDBUJPOTBOEQPTUBMDPEFT Includes lists of: ȕ Federal and provincial judges ȕ Federal courts, including a section for federal government departments, boards and commissions ȕ Ontario courts and services, including a section for provincial government ministries, boards and commissions ȕ Small claims courts ȕ The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario ȕ Miscellaneous services for lawyers Perfectbound Published December each year On subscription $77 One time purchase $80 L88804-677 Multiple copy discounts available . Plus applicable taxes and shipping & handling. (prices subject to change without notice) THE MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND $06354 7JTJUDBSTXFMMDPNPSDBMMGPSBEBZOPSJTLFWBMVBUJPO Untitled-2 1 2015-01-13 7:58 AM