Lana Paton, National Tax Leader of PwC Canada, named WXN 2017 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner

Toronto, ON – November 22, 2017 –– PwC Canada is pleased to announce that Lana Paton, National Tax Leader, has been named a Women's Executive Network (WXN) 2017 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner.

Lana joined PwC Canada nearly 25 years ago and has led a range of challenging leadership portfolios, including Energy, Utilities, Mining, and Industrial Products, and was most recently appointed to lead our National Tax practice. She is the first woman to hold the tax leadership role at PwC Canada.

Lana’s leadership style is focused on empowering and connecting individuals and teams, and when combined with her strong business acumen and extensive industry experience, she brings the best of PwC to the marketplace. Lana’s focus on always unlocking the potential of those around her has led to the creation of diverse teams that continue to earn the trust of clients and colleagues. It is this visionary approach to leadership that has helped her to truly transform the business areas she has led over the years.

“Throughout my career, I’ve learned that diverse perspectives are so critical in building high performance teams. Teams that are diverse in talent, perspectives, culture and gender bring more innovation and stronger outcomes.” says Lana Paton, National Tax Leader, PwC Canada. “Creating and supporting an environment of continual learning really helps to empower others to become better decision makers and leaders. As a leader, it is my role to recognize the talent in my colleagues and mentor them to reach new heights in their professional and personal lives.”   

“Congratulations to Lana on this well-deserved recognition. We are very proud of her many professional accomplishments at PwC Canada,” says Bill McFarland, CEO, Chief Inclusion Officer and Senior Partner, PwC Canada. “Lana is a trailblazer who inspires others with her passion for and extraordinary commitment to building diverse teams, which have proven to deliver better results for our clients and truly helped our people reach their full potential”

In addition to her role as a National Tax Leader, Lana champions many initiatives at PwC Canada, including its award-winning Women in Leadership (WiL) program, which is designed to support women in their career planning, provide coaching and mentoring, build networks and help move women through to partnership. The program has already seen more than 150 graduates throughout the Canadian firm and continues to grow. PwC Canada has also committed to achieving 50/50 gender equity for new partner admits by 2020.

“Supporting other women at the firm is something I do with great pride. I also support many areas of diversity including sexual, ethnic, and other backgrounds as it makes for stronger teams,” adds Lana.  “My top advice for women or men looking to advance their careers is to seek mentors, talk to people from a diverse backgrounds and learn from their success and failures.”

Lana is a board member of Make a Wish Foundation as Chair of the Performance Assurance Committee and is actively involved in the Greek Community of Oshawa, which provides scholarships to students who are actively involved in the community.  

Launched in 2003, WXN’s Top 100 Awards celebrate the incredible accomplishments of Canada’s top female executive talent as well as their organizations and networks. Lana will  receive the WXN KPMG Professionals award in recognition of her career achievements and dedication to helping women succeed in business during a gala celebration at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 23.

Lana joins a prestigious community of past Award Winners including Canada’s most iconic female trailblazers: Margaret Atwood, best-selling author; Dr. Roberta Bondar, astronaut; Arlene Dickinson, chief executive officer, Venture Communications; Christine Magee, president, Sleep Country Canada; Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada; Heather Reisman, founder and chief executive officer, Indigo Books & Music; and, Kathleen Taylor, chair of the board, Royal Bank of Canada.