Return to Bay Street Program Brings Executive Women Back into the Fold

Christina Caney had been working in capital markets for 15 years, rising steadily through the ranks, when she made the decision to quit her job and take five years off to raise her two daughters.

Although she felt privileged to have the chance to be a stay-at-home mom for a while, she began to explore the possibility of reviving her career when her girls were both in full-day kindergarten. “From the beginning, I had every intention of returning to work,” she says. “I just didn’t know when, or more importantly, how I could get back in.”

Fortunately for Caney, an acquaintance from her days in the capital markets jogged her memory about the Return to Bay Street (RTBS) award program run by Women in Capital Markets. The program aims to reclaim some of the many experienced, talented women who leave the financial industry to deal with family responsibilities or pursue other goals.

“In our industry and many others, there is a point about mid-career where we start to lose women,” says Jennifer Reynolds, president of WCM. RTBS seeks to help those women find a path back in without requiring them to start over on the bottom rung of the career ladder.