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 roots in the world of finance began with her grandfather who was into investing. He worked for Bell Canada, digging telephone polls but he got into stock investing really early.
“He gave me my first stock (with Bell) when I was 12 and I became a pretty passionate investor after that. I’ve always been involved in finance and economics specifically is something I’ve always really enjoyed,” said the President and CEO of Roots.
She said she still holds Bell stock today.
“I can’t bring myself to sell it based on the fact that my grandfather was involved for so long,” added Roach.
Roach was born in Pembroke, Ontario, just outside of Ottawa. She lived there until she was in Grade 10 when she moved to just outside of Peterborough.
She initially went to Queen’s University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce. She was on the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence with a Chartered Accountants of Ontario Scholarship. She also won the Millennium Excellence Award.
Roach also has an MBA (Distinction) Finance, Private Equity from the University of Oxford where she also made the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence and won the Robert H. Hayes Award.
Prior to Roots, she worked at Searchlight Capital Partners, a private equity firm with operations in North America and Europe, at KPMG, and at Teachers’ Private Capital, the private equity arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Roach has also held numerous board roles with public and private companies globally including Wellington A&B (Hunter) and M&M Food Market (Audit Committee Member).
She acts as a Vice Chair for the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of Shift25, and a member of the Investment Committee for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Before becoming the President and CEO of Roots in May 2020, she was on the company’s Board of Directors (Audit Committee Member) from 2015 to 2017 then became Interim CFO in August 2019 and then became Interim CEO in January 2020.
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.”
Reflecting on her passion for investment, Roach said if you think how people build wealth over generations you can either do that by just working or by also making smart investments in businesses and companies.
“For me, it was about understanding what drove businesses. What were the key kind of value drivers? What made them businesses to be invested in?,” she said. “Investing itself. I do like the stock market. I really do enjoy putting my money to work and I think it’s also interesting now that I’m CEO to look at other businesses, thinking about the strategies that they’re employing.”
In November of last year, Roach was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful CEOs and awarded an FCPA, FCA.
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. The award is open to publicly traded or privately owned companies, the public sector, and not-for-profit organizations. The distinction of Fellow (FCPA) formally recognizes CPAs who have rendered exceptional service to the profession and in their communities. Issued by CPA Ontario, becoming an FCPA is the highest honour a CPA can receive.
“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.
“It is an honour to receive the distinction of Fellow from the Chartered Professional Accountants profession as it has been a designation that has been instrumental to my career development and professional growth.”
She steered the retailer through the challenging time of COVID-19.
“Honestly, it was one of the most invigorating experiences of my career,” she said.
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.
“I am not the smartest person in the room and never want to be. If I am, then I’ve failed at my job. Working with others who are smarter or more experienced creates a better business — together.
“It was unique at the time to have a four-year program in Commerce which focused on finance, investing, and marketing, among other things. We focused on case studies, group work, and leadership skills, and learned to think on our feet, collaborate with others, and work to our own strengths.”
After Queen’s, she initially intended to go on a year abroad. But she didn’t end up doing that. In her second year, she had applied to be an investment banking intern. She got a job at National Bank Financial where she got an opportunity to learn about trading, credit risk management, investment banking.
“After that year, I decided I didn’t want to go back into investment banking. So I decided to switch my focus from finance to accounting.”
Roach said her father is a dentist so she saw at a young age how small businesses work. She used to work in his office.
“My father inspired me from a small business perspective,” she said. “That was quite interesting. Growing up and seeing how you take a business, a dental office, and make it a real business. My mom always did my father’s books.”
In 2015, while she was at Searchlight Capital, the company purchased Roots, which began her journey with the iconic retail brand.
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.
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.
“I like that aspect of 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,” added Roach.
As a leader, she described her style as being honest, transparent, approachable.
Her expectations of her team are transparent as are the goals and objectives for the company.
“When times are tough, like the pandemic, I was very transparent with the challenges we faced. When times were good and we were doing well, I’m also transparent with them about what has gotten us to this place. So I think that’s really important in terms of how you work with your team. Being transparent, being honest, being direct, but also understanding that they’re all people and we’re all working towards a common goal together.”
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 arts.
“I’m really enjoying that. You can’t 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.
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