Financial services industry executives were recognized for their commitment toward helping to advance and to support women working in the industry at the 2013 Women in Capital Markets (WCM) Awards Luncheon held on Wednesday in Toronto.
Martine Irman, vice chairwoman of TD Securities Inc. and senior vice president of Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Eric Tripp, president of BMO Capital Markets, were both presented with the WCM’s Award for Leadership.
This award, now is its seventh year, is presented to both a male and female senior executive in the industry who has combined professional excellence with a commitment toward advancing and supporting women in capital markets. Both recipients have acted as a coach and mentor within the industry, either formally or informally.
“We need to design actions that will provide tangible results,” says Tripp, who has mentored both males and females throughout his career, including female recipients re-entering the industry in the WCM’s Back to Bay Street program. “We’re not talking statistics anymore, we’re trying to figure out what we have to do to make some change.”
Irman, who began her career more than 25 years ago, has seen first-hand the shift in culture toward women in the industry. “I think the culture has significantly shifted toward being a lot more diverse and a lot more respectful,” Irman says. “Today, women are starting to see that the opportunities are there, and I think we are only going to see that grow over the next five years.”
In addition to the awards bestowed on Irman and Tripp, Mari Jensen, director, institutional foreign exchange sales with Bank of Nova Scotia, was awarded the 2013 WCM Rising Star Award.
Now in its fourth year, this award is presented to an individual who has provided inspirational leadership and mentorship to young women in the industry. Jensen, who has been with Scotiabank since 2004, was chairwoman of the high school liaison committee in 2011-12, and co-chairwoman in 2010-11.
“We’re seeing through research that women are not getting early exposure to finance the way that men are,” Jensen says, “it’s [about] talking to females at an earlier age; we will hopefully equalize that exposure.”
Jennifer Reynolds, president of WCM, along with Heather Kerr, tax leader, financial services organizations for Ernst and Young LLP, presented the awards at the Royal York hotel in Toronto.
“Leadership is everything right now, and we need to have individuals who are setting examples, taking initiatives and being real role models for not only those in their own organizations, but for the overall capital markets industry,” says Reynolds.