York’s Hennick Centre for Business & Law is honouring Kathleen Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, at a luncheon tomorrow.
Taylor (JD & MBA ’84) will receive the inaugural Hennick Centre Career Achievement Medal. The centre considered her an ideal candidate for the medal because her career at Four Seasons exemplifies the benefits of a joint business and legal education.
Left: Kathleen Taylor
Before the luncheon, Taylor will give a lecture at York’s Schulich School of Business. Both luncheon and lecture are by invitation only.
After graduating from York's Osgoode Hall Law School and Schulich School of Business in 1984, Taylor worked in corporate securities and competition law at Goodmans LLP. She joined Four Seasons in 1989 as corporate counsel and moved steadily up the ladder. She was promoted to executive vice-president, corporate planning and development, in 1997; president, worldwide business operations, in 1999; president and chief operating officer in 2007. Last August, she was appointed president and chief executive officer.
The Hennick Centre medal is her second York award after the 2001 Schulich Award for Outstanding Executive Leadership. Taylor has won many international business awards and Forbes listed her among the 25 Most Influential Women in Travel in 2008.
The Wall Street Journal profiled her in 2008 when she was president and chief operating officer in “Kathleen Taylor: From Oshawa to the world”.