Blythe McGarvie

Blythe J. McGarvie has served in four C-suite roles: CEO of LIF Group, CFO of Société BIC based in Paris France, CFO of Fortune 500 company Hannaford Bros., and CAO of Sara Lee Corporation. Ms. McGarvie is a highly successful leader with a proven track record of increasing shareholder value at these companies as well as where she serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Her financial expertise is complimented with leading technology effectiveness in corporate roles and teaching Financial Reporting and Controls at Harvard Business School on a full-time basis for several years.

She has served on 10 companies’ Board of Directors. She currently serves as a member of the Boards of Sonoco (since 2014), Apple Hospitality REIT (since 2018), Regal/Cineworld (since 2023), as well as the privately held Wawa, Inc. (since 1998). She is Lead Director of Wawa and serves on numerous committees at other companies. She led Audit Committees for Accenture since its IPO for ten years, LKQ for 13 years, Pepsi Bottling Group, and Viacom. She also chairs the Audit committee at Regal/Cineworld. She served on Lafarge NA and on the board of Travelers, chairing the $80 billion Investment Committee, avoiding write-offs during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009.

Blythe believes in supporting social causes that promote the arts, the environment and education. She currently serves on the non-profit board Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Since 2023, Blythe focused on A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to help her boards accelerate intelligent insights, improve decision making and increase speed to execution.  In July 2021, Blythe completed the University of Cambridge 7-week course on ESG and Sustainability. In 2019, she earned a CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight and presented Corporate Governance topics to various audiences.  She is a financial expert after years as a CFO. The NACD invited her to be a Commissioner for the Blue-Ribbon Commission initiative focused on adaptive governance: to better assess and respond to complex, difficult-to-identify risks that would have a profound economic, operational, and/or reputational effect, producing a popular report prior to the pandemic.

In 2018, Women Inc. named her as a 2018 Most Influential Director. In 2012, 2010, and 2008, NACD/Directorship selected Blythe as one of the Top 100 “Most Renowned and Influentials” in corporate governance.