Biography

As the Director, People & Culture at Baker Tilly Nova Scotia and Harbinger Law since April 2023, Dawnetta partners with leadership in the business to align and grow People & Culture through strategy, design, development, and implementation that is both purpose-driven and people-centric. Curating an exceptional experience for colleagues is a passion that Dawnetta has nurtured throughout her whole career.

With a masters-level in Human Resources and over 18 years experience in People & Culture and 11 years experience in professional services organizations, Dawnetta is known as a dynamic transformational change leader who empowers a high-performance culture by collaborating successfully with colleagues across all levels. As an EMCC-accredited Professional Coach, self-proclaimed neuroscience nerd, and organizational psychology practitioner, she takes a curious, caring, and courageous approach to talent and leadership development, which fostered innovative and entrepreneurial environments in each of the 5 complex, nuanced organizations she had the pleasure to work with in the news media, hospitality, accounting, tax, and advisory, not-for-profit, and legal sectors.

Dawnetta believes strongly in the power of learning for individuals, teams, organizations, industries, and communities to evolve. With extensive theoretical and practical knowledge as well as her own lived experience in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation, she has demonstrated integrity through her volunteering and work while she is contributing, facilitating, coaching, mentoring, and leading. Growing up in northern Newfoundland, she found her purpose early in life: to leave the world a little better than she found it.

Outside work, Dawnetta’s adventurous spirit finds her travelling the world, Latin dancing, riding her motorcycle, learning new languages, practicing yoga, creating art, building a whisky collection with her husband Dave, exploring the wilderness with her Havanese dog Clavé, or feeding her competitive streak with a good game of just about anything.