Sophie De Villers

Sophie De Villers (EMBA) died of cancer in Hull, QC, on Feb. 21. She was 50. Sophie is mourned by her husband, Wayne Bowers, her mother Thérèse Lévesque, a large family of siblings, nieces and nephews, many friends, and her colleagues at Canadian Blood Services (CBS), where she was Vice-President, Strategy Management. Sophie joined CBS at its inception, September 1998, initially as Executive Assistant to the CEO. In successive roles, but particularly through the Office of Strategy Management set up in 2005 when she completed her Queen’s degree, she played an integral role in helping shape the transformation of Canadian Blood Services into the world-class organization it is today. Her leadership abilities, far-reaching vision, remarkable insight and committed passion are credited with putting CBS among a very few organizations globally to be inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Strategy Hall of Fame. When she took ill, Sophie was heavily involved in developing an integrated national system to improve organ and tissue donation and transplantation.