Lana Legostaeva is an award-winning CFO with over 20 years of progressive experience in the not-for-profit sector, with a focus on corporate governance and policy development. In 2019, Lana became a recipient of Women in Finance 2019 Team of the Year Award, when she was recognized for the broad scope and impact of the corporate services team.
For the last eight years, Lana served as a Vice-President of Invest Ottawa and Bayview Yards, an economic development agency for the City of Ottawa. Under her leadership, the Corporate Services of Invest Ottawa & Bayview Yards have scaled up operations from 30 to 150 employees, managed the corporate integration of the three entities, developed an economic impact framework, and established risk management and accounting processes for the new business line, an Autonomous Vehicle Test Track. Her team’s work and the targets they have achieved are proof that with steady leadership, clear communication of business objectives and some flexibility a small team can make a mighty impact on a business and its success.
Prior to Invest Ottawa, Lana was a financial controller with the federal non-profit corporation, Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC), and managed the operational budget of over 200 million dollars as well as led costs of production survey. Prior to EFC, Lana was a Manager of Accounting at the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, where her focus was on managing federal grants and contribution agreements, donation revenue, and volunteer training.
She believes that to be a good financial leader it is important to have more than financial oversight but an understanding of how financial decisions impact far beyond the financial statements across the whole organization.
Dedicated to lifelong learning, she holds an MBA from Laurentian University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA). Lana lives in Ottawa and is a mom to two energetic boys. To escape it all and reset, she paddles away on the stand-up board that accompanies her on most of the trips near and far.
