With a strong background in the world of finance, Meghan Roach has been steering retailer Roots for the past four years in what she describes as a “relentless pursuit of strategic growth and robust financial stewardship.”
Her financial journey began with her grandfather, who worked for Bell Canada. His started his career digging telephone poles, then became an early investor in the stock after learning about the employee share program. He gifted Roach her first Bell stock when she was just 12, and this ignited her passion for investing.
She still holds Bell stocks, adding, “I cannot bring myself to sell it, but my portfolio is now much bigger. I have always loved learning about companies and had a passion for finance and economics.”
Roach was born in Pembroke, Ontario, just outside of Ottawa and she associates much of her leadership style today with her up bringing.
“My father was a dentist and from a young age I spent time in his office. Whether it was helping with x-rays after school, cleaning on weekends, or sitting with my mother while she did the books, it was clear to me early on how much hard work and perseverance you need to make a business successful,” Roach said.
She left Pembroke midway through high school to attend Lakefield College School, an international boarding school that first piqued her interest in working globally.
She initially went to Queen’s University where she graduated with Bachelor of Commerce, then pursued a Chartered Accountant designation, before obtaining her MBA with Distinction from the University of Oxford.
At Queen’s she considered pursuing investment banking, working in her second year as an intern at National Bank Financial, where she had an opportunity to learn about trading, credit risk management, and investment banking.
“After the summer, I decided I wanted a deeper understanding of companies at a ground level and chose to pursue a Chartered Accountant designation,” she explained.
It worked out well for Roach, who early in her career leveraged her time at KPMG to obtain a coveted role at Teachers’ Private Capital, the direct private equity group of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Roach was also made an FCPA, FCA earlier this year. The distinction of Fellow (FCPA, FCA) formally recognizes CPAs who have rendered exceptional service to the profession and in their communities and becoming an FCPA is the highest honour a CPA can receive.
“I joined Teachers’ at an interesting time. Lehman had just crashed and the volatility it created in the portfolio was unparallelled. One of my portfolio companies was heavily dependent on advertising and almost overnight it lost more than 50% of its revenue,” said Roach. “While a difficult period to manage through, when COVID-19 hit, I was able to reflect and draw on some of the lessons I learned during this time.”
Transition has been a constant in Roach’s career. She was also at Teachers’ when they moved from geographic to sector focus and supported the set up of the software and consumer sectors. Shortly, thereafter she moved to England to purse her MBA at the University of Oxford, then joined Searchlight Capital Partners in its London office.
“When I joined Searchlight, the team was midway through raising their first fund. It was a fantastic experience to be there at the ground level, working to build sectors of focus and investing strategies.” Roach added, “I was coming from a large, well-established fund and it forced me to go back to thinking like an entrepreneur.”
Her time in private equity exposed Roach to both the investing and governance side of companies. She has held numerous private and public company board and audit committee roles in Europe and North America. Currently, she sits on the board of Roots, acts as a Vice Chair for the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of Shift Canada, and a member of the Investment Committee for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
“The exposure I had to boards early in my career has been impactful in defining my approach as a CEO, particular those boards where multiple stakeholders were involved,” indicated Roach. “It has been fascinating to see the inside of a board room as an investor and now an operator and to consider the different priorities of each group.”
In 2015, while she was at Searchlight Capital, the company purchased Roots, which began her journey with the iconic retail brand.
Before becoming the President and CEO of Roots in May 2020, she was on the company’s Board of Directors and Audit Committee from 2015 to 2017, then became Interim CFO in August 2019 before taking on the Interim CEO in January 2020.
It was an interesting transition for her because she went from being on the investment side of the retail sector to being on the board and then jumping into Roots on an interim basis and then full-time.
When Roots made it official and promoted Roach to her current role she said: “Over its 46 years, Roots has established a highly engaged and loyal consumer base, strong omni-channel capabilities, and a solid core product offering. I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated team at Roots to continue to build on this great foundation.”
Roach said what she liked about the brand was having an opportunity over a long period of time to develop a relationship with consumers and creating an emotional connection and driving common values together.
“Working with a heritage brand is unique. One must balance the legacy perceptions of the brand with the need to modernize and the long-term relationship many customers have with it,” she said.
What’s interesting about retail is the fact-driven nature of it. She likes the idea that in the industry you can try and test a number of different things and you can get an immediate consumer reaction.
“That’s a fascinating environment for me, as someone with a love of analytics,” added Roach.
She also steered the retailer through the challenging time of COVID-19.
“Despite the challenges it posed to Roots as a business, it was one of the most invigorating experiences of my career,” she said. “There was no room to be indecisive. We had to make choices quickly with limited information, while balancing the health and safety of our employees with a constant financial threat.”
And she did it with two small children at home.
“When COVID hit, we were living in a condo and my husband was also working from home,” added Roach. “My kids were literally running in and out of my meetings all day, but we made it work. It was a challenge that also brought me closer to my team, mainly of whom were dealing with the same pressures at home.”
In November of last year, Roach was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful CEOs. The Canada’s Most Powerful CEOs Award recognizes individuals who exemplify the attributes of a powerful visionary with a strong foundational character, a sense of integrity, and the ability to elicit public trust.
“I am humbled to be recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful CEOs by WXN (Women’s Executive Network). This award is a testament to the incredible team at Roots, whose dedication, innovation, and commitment to excellence have propelled us forward, even in challenging times,” said Roach at the time.
As a leader, she described her style as being honest, transparent, approachable.
Her expectations of her team are clear as are the goals and objectives for the company.
“When times were tough, like during the pandemic, I was very transparent with the challenges we faced. When times were good and we were doing well, I was also clear with the team about what had gotten us to this place. I think that is really important as a leader. Being transparent, being honest, being direct, but also understanding that they are all people and we are all working together towards a common goal.”
Outside of work, Roach loves to spend time with her family and traveling.
She’s also passionate right now about muay thai, which is a martial art.
“I’m really enjoying it. It is a great stress relief as you cannot think about anything but muay thai (at VRTU Muay Thai) when you’re doing it. It’s also a very physically demanding sport,” she said.
