About

Deborah R. Greenberg, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, leads the in-house legal team of approximately 40 lawyers at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a government run organisation dedicated to finding affordable housing for all Canadians including returning veterans and other vulnerable groups. The legal team is structured to reflect the company’s different business requirements so that team members can effectively partner with, and be responsivene to, business needs. Key individuals directly report to Greenberg and are accountable for the delivery of corporate priorities and aspirations that relate to their respective portfolios. The balance of the legal team is structured as a matrix organisation to allow for agility to meet demands and to promote professional development and opportunities. The team has gone through a major organisational and cultural change in the last year and a half. A change in leadership of the team precipitated a review of how the team was structured and how they members with one another. The team was realigned to reflect the way the company conducts its business and delivers results. As a result of the realignment, the team was transformed to be more enabled and empowered, resulting in both a high functioning and highly engaged team and valued corporate resource. Explain the department’s ethos, Greenberg explains that the team says, ‘“Yes first”. It’s a bias towards results and advising on risk but with a mind-set of helping CMHC achieve its goals and mandate’.