A recent Catalyst survey states that women currently hold 4% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies. This leaves a large gap especially in the top tier across organizations and industries that demands to be met.
Women in Capital Markets (WCM) – the largest network of professional women in the Canadian Capital Markets industry aims to develop the growing pool of talent women and advancing them into senior leadership positions.
WCM Executive Coaching Awards is a flagship event that last week presented coaching awards to 4 very deserving women. This year’s recipients are:
- Elizabeth Daponte, Managing Director, Corporate Banking – Global Mining, Global Banking and Markets, Scotiabank
- Cheryl M. Ferguson, Managing Director, Global Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities, BMO Capital Markets
- Joanne O’Hea, Director, Global Equity Trading, RBC Capital Markets
- Priya Radha, Director and Desk Head, Fixed Income Options, Canada and the U.S., Global Banking and Markets, Scotiabank
As the exclusive coaching partner Felix is proud to be associated with this event for the 7th consecutive year. Felix Executive Coach Susan Richardson will work with each award recipient and provide her with up to six months of free individual career coaching valued at $15,000.
Over the last 7 years, Felix has been associated with WCM through programs like Executive Coaching Awards, Mentorship Program, Emerging Leaders Coaching Awards, Careers in Motion and Return to Bay Street and has worked in partnership to increase the economic empowerment of women and move the dial on women’s representation.
Through The Executive Coaching Awards Program, we enable each individual to identify personal barriers to advancement and opportunities for development as well as provide them with support in achieving their developmental career objectives.
Rebecca Pang, Senior Director, Channel Strategy and Analytics at CIBC who was the recipient of the award in 2015, shared her experience while working with her Felix executive coach Susan Richardson at last week’s event. She said:
“The coaching helped me develop the awareness of how important it is to empower my team, refine my leadership style by connecting to my two team leaders as well as empowering them to lead their teams. The combination of personality assessment along with a 360 feedback from peers bought about self awareness and made me realize the need to step back and think about strategic implications of networking and having a strategic vision for my career. The program made me realize the importance of my personal brand and others perception of me in the workplace.”
The advancement of women has been a focus of corporations for over more than 20 years, yet the ratio of women in top jobs has remained virtually unchanged in the past decade. Through these coaching programs, we are hoping to close that gap by empowering more aspiring women and pushing them into leadership roles.
We look forward to working closely with this year’s winners and providing them with skills, network and the support required to excel as leaders!
To learn more about Susan Richardson, Felix Executive Coach – click here. You can also follow her on Twitter at @susanleadership
