WCM Announces RTBS 2017 Award Recipients

TORONTO, December 06, 2017 - Women in Capital Markets (WCM), a non-profit advocacy organization which promotes the entry and advancement of women into leadership roles in the financial services industry, is pleased to recognize the recipients of the 2017 WCM Return to Bay Street (RTBS) Award.

The RTBS Award is given to talented professional women with previous senior-level experience in the financial sector who have taken an extended break from their successful careers in the industry and are now ready to re-launch their full-time careers. These women are resuming senior roles and represent a valuable pool of talent for the industry.

The 2017 award recipients and participating institutions are:

The eight 2017 award recipients have each received a minimum four-month contract at the participating firm as indicated above. In addition, WCM has provided the recipients with:

"We are proud to recognize these eight senior-level professional women who were chosen for the Return to Bay Street program this year," said Jeannie Collins-Ardern, Interim CEO & President of Women in Capital Markets. "These women are prime examples of experienced professionals who have made an immediate contribution to the firms they joined. As they are approaching the end of their contracts, we at WCM offer our congratulations to each of them, and are excited to follow their careers and impact on the industry."

The Return to Bay Street program was launched in 2010 by WCM and founding sponsor BMO Capital Markets through their Equity Through Education program. From 2012 to 2017, the RTBS program expanded with more sponsors joining.  To date, 42 women have received the award, and the overwhelming majority of them have translated their contracts into permanent roles in the financial sector.

Now in its seventh year, the program continues to benefit from the generous support of our sponsor institutions: BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Deloitte, National Bank Financial Markets, RBC Capital Markets, RBC Global Asset Management/RBC Wealth Management, Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets and TD Securities.

"The program has proven to have a tangible impact on the growth in the number of talented senior women working in the industry, and we want to thank our sponsor institutions for their continuous commitment," added Collins-Ardern.

Applications for next year's Return to Bay Street program will be available in March 2018.  Over the last year, WCM has continued to expand across Canada, with newly launched Chapters in Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria joining our existing Chapters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. WCM hopes to attract future applicants to the program from a variety of locales, recognizing the pool of talented senior professional women in markets across the country.