The Executive Roster: Q&A with Katherine Henderson of Hockey Canada

In a country where hockey is its identity, Katherine Henderson is carving out a new chapter in the sport’s history. As President and CEO of Hockey Canada, Henderson isn’t just managing the game—she’s shaping its future, making sure that the ice remains a place for every player, every fan, and every Canadian.

Her path to the C-suite wasn’t always crystal clear, however. She never expected to become the first woman to take the reins of one of Canada’s most storied sports. In fact, Henderson grew up in a town where “girls weren’t allowed to play hockey,” she says.

Yet, each step in her career—from volunteering at the Canada Summer Games to marketing for major brands—prepared her for this role. “I couldn't have imagined as a little girl that I was ever going to be the president of a hockey association,” Henderson tells Korn Ferry. “That [was] not even within the realm of possibility.” When the opportunity came around in 2023, she knew she had to take it.

In a new interview* with Korn Ferry, Henderson reflects on her leadership path, the lessons learned along the way, and her vision for making hockey more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable for generations to come. Read an excerpt of the interview below.

Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry research highlights the importance of emotional intelligence and adaptability in leadership during a crisis. You stepped into your role at Hockey Canada during a time of heightened scrutiny and the need for organizational transformation. How did you approach building trust and establishing a clear vision for the organization since taking on the role?

Henderson: Hockey in Canada is incredibly important to Canadians. It isn't just a sport. It is our national winter sport, and it's a sport that most Canadians highly identify with. It's kind of part of our national DNA. Probably hockey and national health care are the two things that when we travel around the globe, people know us for. Hockey Canada had been through a rough time, and it went beyond an organization. This was the public trust for hockey in Canada, and people felt incredibly let down by it, and Canadians had a relationship with Hockey Canada. It's not transactional. It's part of their identity. It's part of the way they think about themselves. So, coming into an organization like this, what you have to do is spend time listening. You have to listen to the people that that you have that relationship with and figure out what they want that relationship to be and where it can be improved.

This is all the people with Hockey. These are hockey participants, hockey fans, employees of Hockey Canada, Sponsors, marketing partners, and our member organizations. We're an amateur Athletic Association and some of the things that had happened affected a lot more people than just Hockey Canada. So, the first part is to figure out what people want from us. And then you just keep checking in.

Korn Ferry: Your appointment is also a historic one for Hockey Canada. How do you see this milestone influence the future of hockey in Canada, particularly for women and girls involved in the sport?

Henderson: Yes, it was historic, and I was pretty adamant [that] I wanted to be the right person. I don't want to be picked because I'm a [woman], but I’ve also worked in sports in fairly senior roles on an ongoing basis. I do believe in, “See it, be it.”

When I was a little girl, I grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It’s like a hockey Mecca, and it's produced tons of NHL players and [other] really good hockey players. Everyone I knew played hockey—except the girls because the girls weren't allowed to play. … So, it was kind of historic for me as well. It was personally historic.

That being said, women’s hockey is growing, and we have great teams. I happened to be walking in right before the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was launched, and it's been unbelievably successful in Canada. It has a broadcast deal, sponsors, and quality hockey. It is worldclass. And one of the things that we did right away was look at how we grow the game. It was very clear to me that growing women's hockey is a no-brainer. There was a ton of pent-up demand.

Korn Ferry: What advice would you give to women aspiring to lead in sports or other male-dominated industries?

Henderson: When I started in business, I was one of a handful of women. I wasn't the only one, but we were just starting to make our way into … into management positions. I don't think young women are like this as much anymore, but early on for me, I was watching my male counterparts, and I was trying to behave like them. I was trying to emulate them. I remember at one point thinking, “I’m sort of pretending to be someone I'm not. I have a way of approaching things, I have a personality, and I have a perspective. And this is getting really exhausting. I just need to be myself. This is the way I think, this is the way I feel, and this is the way I lead.” And all of a sudden, my career path started to accelerate. I was spending so much less energy worrying about how I was going to say something than the content of what it was that I wanted to say. I was able to do things faster and more effectively. And I could bring people along.

I don't mind being a leader that steps behind someone and lets them shine. I started to realize, I have this great power of being able to pick super smart people who know what they're doing and nurture them into roles where they do well. And I just started doing a lot of that. So, I would say, be yourself. Stay curious. Find people who want to see you do well and have lots of good, healthy conversations. Also never forget, even if you're a junior person, you can always help the person that's helping you. Never forget to ask that.

Don't be afraid to take on an ugly problem. If you think you can solve the ugly problem, solve it. You're a lot more heroic from taking something from 0 to 8 than you are at maintaining a 9.

Korn Ferry: Is there anything that you want to add or share with us?

Henderson: I'll share this, I don't think I don't know a lot of organizations that do succession planning very well. It's probably the number one risk that most of us have, me included. I get a little bit caught up on trying to make a lot of things right now and in the future. But you often forget [to ask], “Is this sustainable?” I've started over the last couple of years to recognize that a key role of executives is to have little enough ego to say, “I'm not irreplaceable, and because I'm not irreplaceable, find someone to replace me.” And when you do that, you increase your own value. You start to have a really smart team of people around you, because if you're picking people that see the vision and want to get there, they really accelerate a lot of things.

*This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Click the image to download Korn Ferry’s full interview with Henderson.

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