Kimberley Milani
Director
Kimberley joined Ivey Business School’s Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership in 2017, and has played a pivotal role in expanding the Institute's reach, reputation, and impact. A gifted knowledge mobilizer, she connects rigorous research on leader character with leaders, organizations, and communities seeking to navigate complexity with integrity and purpose. In 2019, she co-founded Ivey’s Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Program (LAMP) and was an active member of Ivey’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Council for five years.
Prior to Ivey, Kimberley spent over a decade at Brescia University College, Canada’s only women’s university, as Director of The Circle Women’s Centre and as a founding member and Director of the Institute for Women in Leadership. Across these roles, she designed and led innovative, community-based programs that emphasized shared leadership, intentional practice, and the cultivation of character. Her commitment to social impact extends well beyond academia: for more than 20 years she has volunteered and served with organizations advancing women’s leadership, environmental stewardship, and social justice, including ReForest London, Pillar Nonprofit, Women Our Votes Count, and The Circle Women’s Collective, where she currently serves as a board director.
Kimberley is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, and is the co-author of CHARACTER: What Contemporary Leaders Can Teach Us About Building a More Just, Prosperous and Sustainable Future, alongside Gerard Seijts. She has published in outlets such as Organizational Dynamics, Business Horizons, Amplify, and the Ivey Business Journal, and is a speaker and facilitator on character leadership and women’s leadership in Canada, the United States, and internationally. Above all, Kimberley brings a deeply human perspective to her work—grounded in scholarship, shaped by community, and inspired daily by her most important role: being the mother of her daughter, Evangeline.