About

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020.

Andrea Cotroneo is Capital One Canada’s chief legal and compliance officer, who also leads regulatory and government relations.

In 2019, Cotroneo and her team successfully managed a very significant volume of litigation and regulatory challenges. As two highlights, Capital One defeated authorisation of a Quebec class action, involving claims for over limit credit card charges. As a much higher profile matter, Cotroneo and her team have been managing a wide variety of regulatory and litigation issues arising out of a data breach which occurred in the US, but which has affected Canadian customers.

In her role as general counsel, Cotroneo was an integral part of a small executive team dealing with the aforementioned data breach, managing multiple stakeholders, both internal and external. During the last half of 2019, she managed both the immediate legal, compliance and reputational issues arising from the breach, as well as longer term government attention and regulatory enforcement. This has included identifying issues in both Canada and the US, satisfying regulatory and reporting obligations in multiple jurisdictions.

Capital One’s diversity vision is to create and foster an inclusive environment where every voice is heard and matters –inspiring better products, services and experiences of both Capital One employees and customers. In 2017, Cotroneo helped establish Capital One’s first Canada-level diversity council. In 2019, the council launched its multi-year strategic plan, which sets enterprise-leading targets for recruitment and retention of employees, people leadership, and data collection. She also leads Capital One’s Women in Tech employee network, focused on elevating women through awareness, outreach and education in order to attract and retain female talent. In achieving this, the BRG hosted both internal events (tech skills workshops, lean-in circles) and community events (Women Who Code, Vinetta Project). Cotroneo is a proud member of Womens General Counsel Canada, and has been appointed co-chair of the WGCC National Conference to be held in January 2020. She is also an active member of Legal Leaders for Diversity and Inclusion, a group of Canadian general counsel who have declared their commitment to creating a more inclusive legal profession.