Toronto-based Women in Capital Markets (WCM) has announced 10 “Return to Bay Street” (RTBS) award recipients, the largest group ever selected to receive the prize, which assists professional women who left the capital markets industry temporarily and are looking to relaunch their careers.
The 2015 award winners are Tanja Bey, Christina Caney, Roberta Carano, Michelle Fiebig, Maria Hunt, Karin Huo, Seong Kim, Meric Koksal, Ilaria Rubbini and Jennifer So. Each recipient will receive $5,000 toward an education program, a mentor from WCM and a one-year membership to WCM.
Each winner will also access a paid four-month internship within one of the following banks: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; the financial markets arm of National Bank of Canada; the Bank of Nova Scotia; TD Securities Inc.; the capital markets arm of Royal Bank of Canada; or the wealth-management or capital markets arm of the Bank of Montreal. (All firms are based in Toronto with the exception of Montreal-based National Bank.)
“I am delighted to have our largest group of award winners this year and to have Canada’s six largest banks supporting this important initiative,” says Jennifer Reynolds, CEO of WCM, in a statement. “I congratulate these talented women on relaunching their careers and I look forward to the impact their leadership will have on the industry.”
WCM and founding sponsor BMO Capital Markets, which provides funding through its “equity through education” program, launched the RTBS awards program in 2010. The RTBS initiative has awarded paid contract positions to 12 women between 2012 and 2014 and all award alumnae have been able to land longer-term roles in the capital markets industry, the WCM statement says.