About

Dawn Devoe is general counsel for World Vision, Canada’s largest private, child-focused international humanitarian development agency and sponsor of nearly half a million children in developing nations around the world. Devoe was contacted by representatives of World Vision during a career break and joined in a temporary capacity in early 2010. The Haiti earthquake struck during Devoe’s second day in the office, forcing her to coordinate an international humanitarian aid mission while still learning people’s names. The intensity of those first few weeks offered a good insight into the emotional requirements of the job, which has subsequently called on Devoe to travel into some of the world’s most distressed regions. While the job requires a lot emotional strength, it also calls for a commercially-minded negotiator. World Vision is committed to maximising the amount of donor money that reaches those in need, which means the budgetary pressures Devoe and her team operate under are as oppressive as those at the most cost-controlled corporate (with the added moral burden of knowing every dollar spent on legal fees is a dollar less spent on saving lives). This has called upon Devoe’s suite of business skills, acquired over several years as senior counsel at synthetic crude oil producer Suncor, to leverage relationships with partner firms and extract the maximum value from the resources available to the team. Devoe has won particular acclaim for her role as key legal adviser to World Vision’s “No Child for Sale” advocacy campaign, aimed at ending child labour and human trafficking. She also led negotiations ahead of World Vision’s partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme. She was recently named one of the 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada for 2015 by Canadian Lawyer magazine, a testament to the respect she commands in the North American in-house community.