A transformation is sweeping the asset management sector, where sustainability is no longer a side project but a fundamental part of how firms operate, says Delia Cristea, chief operating officer and general counsel at Power Sustainable. “It’s part of the architecture of the operations and … investment strategy,” she says. Sustainability now drives every investment decision, and the firm only backs ventures that “bring a positive… impact in one of our sustainability goals, starting with climate, but also there are other social aspects that we’re covering.”
Cristea’s legal career began at McCarthy Tétrault, where she was immersed in corporate law and mentored by women leaders who taught her to “think very long term about my career and to grow with intention.” That early exposure to high standards and strategic thinking set the tone for her future roles.
A secondment to an in-house legal team showed her the appeal of owning decisions and seeing their real-world impact. “The buck stops with you. You own the decision, there are no caveats… You actually get to see the results of what you’ve built,” she says. That experience led her to Power Corporation, where she spent nearly a decade before joining Power Sustainable at its launch.
At Power Corporation, Cristea absorbed a culture that avoided short-term thinking. “It has that long-term stewardship approach [and] intergenerational thinking to everything it does,” she says. The company’s ethos – serving a purpose beyond profit – became central to her own leadership style.
Building Power Sustainable from the ground up meant tackling legal and operational challenges at breakneck speed. “We were building… the plane as you’re flying it,” she says. The firm expanded across multiple cities, requiring robust infrastructure and a focus on maintaining culture amid rapid growth. “Scaling it up, professionalizing and adjusting in time, remaining flexible, but maintaining a backbone… as you’re growing fast,” she says, is the core challenge for any firm evolving from startup to established player.
Cristea’s dual role as COO and GC demands she balance legal and strategic priorities. “Legal insight… sharpens your strategic thinking,” she says, adding that lawyers must see issues from every perspective. Operationally, she works to “shape the system, shape the people, the culture and the processes… to ensure alignment between what we believe in, what we actually do, and what we say.”
The ESG landscape has shifted from soft principles to hard expectations, Cristea notes. “There were regulatory enhancements across the world in terms of disclosure,” she says. Now, the focus is on risk management and value creation, not just reporting. “It’s moving from compliance to competitiveness. It’s not about what you’re reporting, but it’s about what you’re building.”
For Cristea, the days of superficial ESG are over. “The tourists are gone from the space,” she says. What remains are leaders focused on value creation and long-term impact.
When it comes to external counsel, Cristea is selective. “We handle the core work in-house. But when we’re going into a fund transaction or a highly structured transaction, cross-border deals, we bring in specialized counsel. There are very few we work with,” she says. She values long-term relationships with advisors who share the firm’s values and vision.
Cristea believes in-house lawyers have a duty to treat their external counsel as true partners. She insists on respecting their time and expertise, refusing to send unnecessary requests over weekends or create artificial emergencies. “We give them the real deadline… We’re very respectful of their work,” she says. That approach, she argues, is essential to building a sustainable, high-performing legal team – inside and out.
She credits her internal team for truly moving the company’s priorities forward. “If sustainability is our compass, then our team is the engine.”
Her advice to lawyers aiming for in-house roles is to stay curious: “Learn how the business works, how value is created, how risk is understood, qualified, integrated, and decision-making is made, and how strategy is shaped.” She urges lawyers not to be transactional about learning or networking but to build genuine connections across the business.