New WCM head aims to “move the dial”

Moving women up the corporate ladder is where Reynolds wants “to move the dial.” It’s one of the key factors in her decision to take on her new role at WCM, a non-profit organization with more than 1,200 members that promotes the entry, advancement and development of women in the capital-markets sector.

In fact, Reynolds, who has been a member of WCM since 2000, knew that taking on the task as president was an opportunity she wanted to pursue when Martha Fell announced she would be leaving WCM in March after leading the organization for five years.

“To look back over the past 15 years and see that the number of women in senior-level roles hasn’t moved a smidgen is incredibly frustrating to me,” Reynolds says. “To have the opportunity to change that, to dedicate my time and energy to that cause, just seemed like the right choice for me. It was something I had to do.”

Reynolds knows first-hand the struggle that women can face in juggling a family and a career. With a blended family of six children and a career that has lasted more than 15 years, Reynolds has become an advocate for women entering — and moving up in — the financial services industry.

The issue with women sticking around in the industry isn’t all related to work/life balance, Reynolds says. Many women get discouraged or frustrated when they don’t advance in their careers and find themselves stagnant in a role or overlooked for promotions.

“Women holding senior positions at large corporations quit at twice the rate of men,” she adds. “We can’t have all this talent walking out of corporate Canada. It’s a complete waste. We have to find ways to solve this problem.”

Reynolds admits that there was a point when she also felt discouraged. This occurred just after she had her second baby and she missed out on a promotion.

“I had worked very hard to demonstrate my commitment to my career throughout those child-bearing years, but I realized that had not been recognized,” she says. “When I was discussing where I wanted to go, senior management looked at me and said, ‘Why would you want to do this?’ It was disheartening because I realized I was always going to have that lens on me as a mother.”

Reynolds hopes to see some of the women who have left the industry come back with the WCM’s Return to Bay Street program. The aim of this initiative, which was developed in 2012, is to encourage women who have left the industry to relaunch their careers in Canada’s capital markets. Candidates can apply for the opportunity to be awarded a four-month internship at one of the participating banks (at the same level of position when they left the industry), $5,000 toward an education program, a WCM mentor and one-year WCM membership.

“With any career, there’s a feeling that you have to advance constantly or you will fall off the ladder and be done,” Reynolds says. “But this [program] is an opportunity to combat that image. And I firmly believe that these women can get back up to speed. If we bring back three or four women a year, then that will really move the dial.”

WCM provides programs for several skill sets, ranging from junior entrepreneurs to the most senior-level executive networking groups. For the mid-level programs, WCM provides executive coaching for those who have been in the industry between eight and 10 years. Reynolds will be expanding this program to include another segment, for women with five to eight years in the industry, in hopes of giving them greater opportunities to get to more senior-level roles.

“People start evaluating you very early on in your career,” Reynolds says. “So, with the right coaching, women can make sure they’re putting forth the right message to the right people.

Reynolds also wants to get the message out about opportunities in the industry to young women in high school. “Its really about educating girls to stay in math and keeping their options open,” she says. “Let them know about the capital-markets [sector] and what type of career they can have.”

Like many young girls whom Reynolds meets, the financial services industry was not at the top of Reynolds’ list of what she wanted to do when she grew up; becoming a lawyer was. However, after meeting some people in the investment-banking sector, Reynolds decided to switch gears.

Her career began in 1998 when she joined Bank of Nova Scotia’s capital-markets business as an associate in the global risk-management department. In 2000, she joined BMO Capital Markets Corp., where, over the next 10 years, she moved up from associate to vice president and then to director.

In 2010, Reynolds joined OMERS Ventures, the venture-capital arm of the OMERS pension fund. Although that job was in a slightly different industry from investment banking, the two had something in common: not enough women were coming through the doors.

“When I was at OMERS,” says Reynolds, “it was great to see a lot of entrepreneurs come in the door with so much innovation. But what was disheartening was that not many of them were female. We need to see more women deciding to start their own companies.”

In 2012, Reynolds knew she wanted to go back to investment banking, so she joined Toronto-based Stonecap Securities Inc. as managing director, head of diversified industries, investment banking. She held that position until she took on the role of WCM’s president.

Regardless of where Reynolds has worked, she always found herself involved with mentorship programs and diversity committees. At BMO, for example, she ran the internal mentorship program for both men and women; at OMERS Ventures, she became involved with women in private equity.

Reynolds isn’t surprised she’s been able to survive in the industry. Her success, she says, has come from maintaining close relationships with her mentors as well as following the career path that she set out for herself, which included promotions she wanted to obtain. “When I started out in my career, there weren’t a lot of women around — and definitely not a lot of senior-level women,” Reynolds says. “Everyone wants to talk to someone who has done it and to know that they can do it themselves. My mentors were able to provide that for me.”

But with few women in senior roles, female mentors are few and far between. The most recent initiative that Reynolds is supporting is helping to grow the number of female positions found on boards of Canada’s top publicly traded companies.

In July, the Ontario Securities Commission issued a consultation paper proposing new disclosure requirements for issuers regarding the representation of women on their boards and senior management. Only about 10.9% of board members among the companies in the S&P/TSX composite index are women. Among those firms, 43% have no female board members and 28% have just one.

“There has been a serious lack of progress in increasing gender diversity on boards and in senior management,” Reynolds says. “Canada has fallen behind, and it’s unacceptable that almost half of the boards in Canada do not have women on them. When I say it out loud, I still get shocked by that number. Only 10% of directors in Canadian public companies are women. It hasn’t moved in a decade — and it won’t unless we start doing something about it.” IE