Women in Capital Markets announced on Monday that Sheralyn Mills and Catherine Staveley have been awarded the inaugural WCM Return to Bay Street Award.
WCM, a non-profit organization that promotes the advancement of women in the Canadian financial services industry, established the award to assist and encourage talented women who have had an extended absence from the workplace and wish to re-launch their careers in the capital markets. The annual award is sponsored by BMO Capital Markets’ Equity Through Education program.
The award recipients receive $5,000 towards an education program; a paid four-month internship with BMO Capital Markets; a WCM mentor; and a one-year WCM membership.
“WCM is pleased to have assisted in re-opening the door for these two very deserving women, recognizing not just their past career contributions, but also their future potential in this dynamic industry,” said Martha Fell, CEO of WCM. “With this award we want to show women that transitioning back to the industry is an option and there are both programs to support them and organizations looking to hire them. This is another way we are inspiring women to consider, or in this case re-consider, the capital markets.”
“BMO is committed to fostering a culture where all employees feel they can truly succeed,” said Tom Milroy, CEO of BMO Capital Markets and BMO’s executive diversity champion. “One measure of our progress is the growth in the number of women who occupy executive positions at the bank. We’re now at 34% and it is our goal to reach 40% by the end of 2016.”