Meet Donna Harding, Chair of the Halifax Chamber Board of Directors for 2026/2027
When Donna Harding first arrived in Halifax as a twelve-year-old sea cadet, she couldn’t have mapped what came next: twenty-four years in the Canadian Navy, a global real estate brokerage built from scratch, and now the Chair of the oldest English-speaking Chamber of Commerce in North America.
Harding was born and raised in a small fishing community on the south coast of Newfoundland, where weekends and vacations meant time on the water, often sailing to remote corners of the province. That early relationship with the sea shaped a great deal of what came after. “I grew up on the ocean and learned to respect it at a very early age,” she says. “That respect for the sea eventually led both my brother and me to the Navy, and that is why we are all avid sailors today, as is my husband.”
When her training as a sea cadet brought her to Halifax for the first time, Harding knew that this city was where she wanted to build her life. She has never stopped building since.
As Harding steps into the role of Chair of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for 2026–2027, she brings a philosophy forged through decades of collaborative, impactful, community-minded leadership.
A path through service
Harding’s early instinct was to join the military college program straight out of high school. At the time, women weren’t admitted. So, she found another way in, enrolling at Memorial University and then the Newfoundland Community College to study accounting while she waited to join the Canadian Armed Forces.
She entered as an Army Private (Finance Clerk), worked full-time, and completed additional university courses on evenings and weekends to earn a spot in the University Training Program at Royal Military College. She graduated from RMC in 1996 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Business—the same year, as it happens, that outgoing Chair Joanne Bernard completed her own Political Science degree at Mount Saint Vincent University.
“While our backgrounds are very different, our experiences have synergy in that we both went through our careers having to blaze trails and build bridges,” Harding says of Bernard. “We both have degrees in Political Science, we both lost our parents young, and close together, and we both chose careers that required us to step up as women at a time when that was not always the norm.”
Harding’s time in the Military, where she started as a young private and retired as a senior officer in the Navy, gave her a framework for leadership that still governs how she operates today. “I often found myself forging a path as the only woman in the field, the boardroom, or the wardroom at sea,” she says. “This journey equipped me with essential skills for any CEO role, including a strong work ethic; logistical, accounting, and strategic planning skills; government relations and community philanthropy; teaching, coaching, and mentoring experience, along with the ability to lead very large, diverse groups of people.”
The core principles she carries from that era are direct: lead by example, give respect before expecting it, and treat teamwork as the only route to the best solution. “We are all so much stronger when we approach challenges with a team mentality,” she says.
Bernard has seen those principles in action. “Donna will transition into the Chair role seamlessly because her work as my Vice Chair has been hands on, engaging, purposeful, and has had tremendous impact not only on the organization but the people around her,” Bernard says. “She rolls her sleeves up and gets to work, and I think a lot of that comes from her years in the Navy.”
Katherine Risley, Managing Partner at KBRS and incoming Vice Chair of the Halifax Chamber Board of Directors, agrees. “Donna brings together a combination of strong governance experience, entrepreneurial leadership, and operational insight,” she says. “As an entrepreneur herself, she has built, and scaled a real estate brokerage in a highly competitive, relationship-driven industry—experience that translates well to the Chamber’s mandate of supporting growth, advocacy, and member value.”
Risley also points to Harding’s board experience as a particular asset. “Donna has served on multiple boards, and this experience has given her a deep understanding of the role of the board and its effective oversight,” she says. “She’s also incredibly inclusive, collaborative, and has a great sense of humour—all things that facilitate a strong working relationship between members of the board and in building relationships with our members and external partners.”
Building something together
In the Navy, Harding met her husband, Sébastien. They have been married for over twenty years and have spent most of that time working side by side. When Harding launched Harding Real Estate, Sébastien left the Navy in 2010 to grow it alongside her. In 2018, they opened the first Engel & Völkers franchise east of Quebec. They chose this franchise brand because it stands for luxury service, at every price point.
Harding and Sebastien believe in providing only the utmost of competence, systemization, professionalism, and global marketing for their clients. Harding points out that this reflects the brand values of Engel & Völkers, as the founder always says, “Every home is a mansion, regardless of price point.” With that approach and brand promise, they grew the brokerage from a single micro-office with a team of five to seven locations and one hundred advisors and staff in only three years, servicing the province from Cape Breton to Yarmouth.
All of that growth happened, notably, in the middle of a global pandemic and brought with it their successful in-house charity, A Home for Everyone (AHFE). Their advisors give contributions at closing from their commissions to AHFE which since 2020 has placed three families into homes with another coming in 2026. They believe that giving back to the community is a responsibility that their Brokerage family shares.
The brokerage runs, by design, like a family. All locations are pet-friendly (Harding’s two Jack Russell terriers, Gracey and GiGi, go everywhere they do), and the culture reflects a commitment to inclusion and shared success. “The days and weeks are busy as we travel around Nova Scotia to support our small team, but we have a VP of Operations, Stephanie Perrault, who has been with us now for eleven years,” Harding says. “Stephanie is the heart of our Brokerage team, and a big part of our personal family. We could not do any of this without her.”
Her sons are woven into that same fabric of drive and community. Jacob, her eldest, is an advisor with the company, a videographer and a coach with the Special Olympics, recently leading his Halifax basketball team to numerous medals over the past three years. Lucas is in his second year at Saint Mary’s University, studying toward a career in medicine while playing defensive back for the SMU Huskies and working two part-time jobs. The family connection extends to their Beneteau in the harbour.
When there is time to breathe, Harding paints landscapes while Sébastien trains for marathons. “We enjoy sailing up and down the south shore and around Halifax,” she says. “We are a very close-knit family, and we love spending time with our two boys whenever we can.”
A year of collaboration
Harding’s transition from Vice Chair to Chair is a continuation of her work on the board. Under Bernard’s tenure, the two worked in close partnership through a demanding year—overseeing a CEO search, navigating tariff uncertainty, and managing the pressures of a volatile geopolitical climate. “In the past year, working with Joanne has been a true collaboration,” Harding says. “We synced very early on, and given the huge weight of work, Joanne and I shared workloads in every way possible to ensure we each contributed. In other words, we divided and conquered.”
What she takes from Bernard’s leadership is as much personal as professional. “I so respect Joanne, her background, sense of community and I love her use of humour in dealing with the issues of the day,” Harding says. “Having grown up in Newfoundland, humour was a big part of our culture and of a leader’s presence, and Joanne does this with such grace and wit. She does not hesitate to make light of the moment to induce smiles and laughter, while still getting to the crux of the situation and results.”
Bernard reflects Harding’s sentiment with equal warmth. “Donna’s attention to detail, governance, and strategy is one of the best I have ever seen in my career,” she says. “And on top of it all, she is kind, caring, and a hell of a lot of fun. I value her friendship and her leadership, and I look forward to both of those in the coming years.”
Risley shares that enthusiasm. “Having worked with Donna over the past several years, I’ve seen firsthand the thoughtfulness, curiosity, and innovative perspective she consistently brings to board discussions,” she says. “I’m very much looking forward to working closely with her as Vice Chair this coming year, particularly as we focus on supporting the Chamber and its members capture the economic opportunities that lie ahead for our region.”
A full-circle moment
If there is one area where Harding’s particular biography converges with Halifax’s biggest upcoming opportunity, it is defence.
Nova Scotia represents approximately twenty percent of Canada’s defence and security workforce with only six percent of the country’s population. The Department of National Defence spent $2.4 billion in the province in 2023–24, representing roughly five percent of provincial GDP. That figure is set to grow substantially as Canada works toward its NATO commitment of five percent of GDP on defence spending by 2035.
The numbers attached to that spending are significant: a ten-year contract for sovereign space launch capability, a Regional Defence Investment Initiative, the Naval Shipbuilding Strategy, infrastructure upgrades, and the NATO DIANA Headquarters.
At the centre of this growth is a city where women now command both the Atlantic Fleet and CFB Halifax.
For Harding, the moment carries weight that goes beyond economics. “For me, this is a truly ‘full circle’ moment,” she says. “It is deeply meaningful to see the government focused on the defence of our country, ensuring our service people have the necessary tools, equipment, and training to create sovereignty for this country we call home, as well as recognition for their critical work, and for veterans. Sovereignty has long been a word used to describe intent, but today, it describes strategy—one that is necessary for our country to move forward in today’s climate.”
She does not plan to let the opportunity pass the Chamber’s members by. “This is a significant opportunity for our members,” she says. “It is very serendipitous that a Naval veteran is chairing the Chamber board at a time like this, as I understand the military community and am eager to help businesses navigate the many opportunities.”
The 2026 Defence Industrial Strategy’s target of awarding seventy percent of defence contracts to Canadian firms over the next decade makes local readiness not just an aspiration, but an imperative. The Chamber’s role, as Harding sees it, is to connect businesses with information, policy influence, and each other—equipping them to take full advantage of what is coming.
The city she chose
Halifax’s housing crisis is a topic Harding approaches with both the expertise of someone who has watched the market from the inside for years and the urgency of someone whose employees and children live in it. “I find the situation extremely frustrating, as this is not a quantity issue—our vacancy rate is creeping up to the six percent and higher range,” she says. “This is a price-point-specific issue.”
New construction has concentrated on apartment units, particularly on the peninsula and in downtown Dartmouth, while affordable inventory for first-time buyers and downsizers has not kept pace. She is watching the federal Build Canada Homes initiative closely and sees modular construction as a credible part of the solution—but calls on all levels of government to work together on the tax and financing conditions that make affordable condominium and starter-home development viable.
Transportation and infrastructure matter too. “We all collectively need to ensure the city remains accessible for our children, our grandparents, and future Nova Scotians,” she says.
Beyond defence and housing, Harding wants to deepen the relationship between the Chamber and HRM’s municipal councillors, strengthen the culture of inclusion, diversity, and accessibility that she sees as inseparable from the East Coast identity, and ensure that every director on the Board is heard. Her vision for the year is, at its core, the same vision she has carried from Newfoundland to the wardroom to the brokerage floor: lead from within the team, not above it.
“I am so proud of the Board of Directors of the Halifax Chamber,” she says. “We have such a huge wealth of experience, business leaders, and collaborators, and I am very excited to help the Board navigate the next year,” she says. “These are times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, but also a time of opportunity.”
Photos by Basha Koncepts Media.
