Sharon Geraghty joined Great-West Lifeco in January 2018 as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel, based in Toronto, Canada. She reports to the Chief Executive Officer and is a member of Great-West Lifeco’s senior executive leadership team.

Sharon oversees the global legal, corporate secretarial, supervisory affairs and global compliance functions, leading a team of 215 in Canada and holding responsibility for over 150 people across the legal teams of Lifeco’s businesses outside Canada. These include Empower in the US, Irish Life in Ireland, Canada Life UK, Canada Life Europe in Germany, and Canada Life’s global reinsurance business. Sharon’s global team provides risk-based advice and support that advances the company’s strategic priorities and ensures fair and ethical customer outcomes.
In her current role, Sharon has led the amalgamation of the three Canadian operating insurance companies of Great-West Lifeco, several major M&A transactions, and provided strategic advice on numerous initiatives, governance and regulatory matters.

Prior to joining Lifeco, Sharon was a partner at a major Canadian law firm specialising in mergers and acquisitions, governance and securities law. She led domestic and cross-border acquisitions, take-over bids and reorganisations in both the public and private markets, advising many financial services, insurance and wealth management companies in Canada and globally. She was recognised by Report on Business magazine as a winner of the 2024 Best Executive Awards, Operations. She has twice been named one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence and, in 2017, one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

Sharon holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She is a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel and a former Chair of the Trinity College (University of Toronto) Board of Trustees. She also served for many years on the United Way of Greater Toronto, Major Gifts Cabinet.