Kerry O’Reilly Wilks is the Executive Vice-President, Legal, Commercial & External Affairs with TransAlta Corporation where her portfolio spans legal, commercial, sustainability, policy, government relations, stakeholder engagement, indigenous affairs, regulatory and market policy, corporate secretarial, governance and trading compliance. Kerry is also a director with the publicly traded company, TransAlta Renewables Inc. (RNW.TO) and sits on the Editorial Board of Canadian Lawyer. Prior to this position, Kerry was Head of Legal, North Atlantic & UK, for Vale. Kerry also sat as the Head of Legal, Corporate & Marketing, as well as the Global Chief IT Counsel for Vale globally across all business lines. In addition, Kerry occupied a senior strategic advisory role with Vale's Asia-Pacific affiliates, as Head of Legal, Asia Pacific, as the senior legal representative of a publicly traded multinational dealing with foreign governments, regulators and significant global business partners. Prior to joining Vale, Kerry worked as a partner with one of the leading business law firms in Canada. Kerry sits on the Board of St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation. Kerry is the Founder and Chairperson of Malachy’s Soiree in support of the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at St. Michael’s Hospital. Kerry was named as one of Lexpert's Rising Stars - Top 40 under 40 lawyers in Canada in 2012. She was also awarded an Alumni of Distinction award in 2015 by the University of New Brunswick for her significant contributions to her profession and communities on a global scale. Kerry has been featured in various publications for her professional and personal work, including as a feature in Precedent Magazine’s 2016 Winter edition. In 2017, Kerry was awarded a Zenith Award as one of the leading female lawyers in Canada and a significant change agent for women in law and society. In addition, Kerry was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada. In 2019, Kerry was named as one of the Top General Counsel Thought Leaders in North America at the Corporate Counsel's 2019 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards in Washington, DC. In 2020, Kerry was named as the most influential woman in large enterprise business in Calgary as well as the Canadian Law Department Leader of the Year. She also, in 2020, received an Excellence Award as one of the Women of the Year by the Canada Law Awards. In 2021, Kerry was named top General Counsel – Litigation Management, as well as one of the top General Counsel in Canada.