Sonia Baxendale
Canada has had a female prime minister, female premiers, and a smattering of female CEOs at public companies.
But it has never had a woman at the head of one of the country's Big Five largest banks - a gap highlighted again Monday when one of the country's top women bankers left Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce .
The departure of Sonia Baxendale as the head of CIBC's retail banking operations leaves even fewer women in the senior executive ranks at Canada's biggest financial institutions. There are currently no women believed to be clearly in line for a CEO job at a big bank, though there are still contenders, such as Royal Bank of Canada chief financial officer Janice Fukakusa and Toronto-Dominion Bank CFO Colleen Johnston.
The banking sector has made big push for diversity over the past decade and has launched a raft of programs to hire and promote women and minorities in management ranks. Those programs have helped swell the numbers of women in middle-management tiers, but they have not filled the pipeline at the executive level just below the CEO's office.
"If you're looking at who might be the next bank CEO if it were a woman, there are so few candidates out there," says Martha Fell, chief executive officer of Women in Capital Markets, which helps women network in the investment banking industry.
Toronto-Dominion Bank CEO Ed Clark addressed the issue squarely last year, saying a woman will run a Canadian bank "for sure," but adding the time frame is some time "in the next 20 years."
Experts says work-life balance can be blamed for keeping some women from aspiring to executive roles, but the situation is more complex for women who are already in executive positions and are overlooked for the CEO jobs.
These are typically senior women with older families who have already made enormous career sacrifices and have accepted huge work loads, said University of Toronto professor Beatrix Dart, who heads the Initiative for Women in Business, which offers programs to help women break through the final barriers into senior management.
Many of these women would aspire to the top job if they thought they could get it, she said, but are getting beaten at the finish line by men with better social connections and wilier political instincts.
"We still have this crusty old structure where men promote men they know," Prof. Dart argues. "They play golf together or tennis; they are on the same boards. It's that kind of network which really makes it so difficult for women to make it all the way to top - I'm convinced of that."
Ms. Fell, who worked at CIBC before taking the top job at Women in Capital Markets, says Canada needs more female CEO role models at top companies, which would encourage women and reassure the conservative boards that appoint CEOs.
More critically, she says there simply aren't as many women in the executive pool to raise the odds one will be selected as CEO.
"There aren't a number of women who have had that perfect storm happen for them, everything from the supportive employers to the perfect successive job opportunities and being coached on how to ask for things and how to be confident in their achievements," Ms. Fell adds.
But it can be done - even in traditional and conservative environments. Seven of India's top domestic and foreign banks were headed by female CEOs last year, and some of the leaders have said their success is due in part to a weaker "old boys" network. Naina Lal Kidwai, group managing director of HSBC in India, told the International Herald Tribune that it "isn't a golf-playing, beer-drinking homogeneous culture" and it is easier for women to "join the workplace on their own terms."
In Canada, perhaps the woman to come closest to the corner office at a big bank was former TMX Group Inc. CEO Barabara Stymiest, who was lured to Royal Bank of Canada six years ago and was widely seen as a possible replacement for CEO Gordon Nixon.
But Ms. Stymiest saw her power decline at RBC over the years, notably after her chief operating officer position was eliminated in a leadership shuffle in 2009 and she took on other duties. She announced in December that she will retire this summer to focus on board work and charitable organizations.
Jill Denham, former vice-chairwoman of CIBC, was another female star in the banking sector who was considered a possible top leadership contender. She left CIBC in 2005, however, after incoming CEO Gerry McCaughey shook up the bank's management ranks. She was replaced by Ms. Baxendale as head of the bank's retail operations.
The credit union sector, however, remains an exception, and demonstrates women clearly aspire to top financial services jobs where they feel they can get them.
Three of Canada's largest credit unions are headed by women - Monique Leroux at Desjardins Group, Tamara Vrooman at Vancouver City Savings Credit Union and Tracy Redies at Coast Capital Savings Credit Union.
Ms. Leroux, who previously worked at RBC, was elected as CEO by Desjardin's 480 member caisses populaires, and said last year she doesn't believe she would have been given the top job if the credit union used a traditional appointment method in which a board of directors picks the CEO.
"Her story is quite unique," Ms. Fell says of Ms. Leroux's ascension to become Canada's top female banker. "It's too bad more organizations don't elect their leaders in the same fashion, but we're probably never going to see that."
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WOMEN IN CANADIAN BANKING
Janice Fukakusa, Royal Bank of Canada, chief administrative officer and chief financial officer
Formerly a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Ms. Fukakusa joined RBC in 1985 and is one of nine executives responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of Canada's largest bank. She also chairs the group operating committee, which is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations.
Colleen Johnston, TD Bank Group, group head of finance and CFO
Ms. Johnston joined TD in 2004 after 15 years with Bank of Nova Scotia in numerous senior roles. Widely respected in the sector, she joined TD as executive vice-president of finance operations, and became CFO a year later.
Patricia Curadeau-Grou, National Bank of Canada, CFO
Ms. Curadeau-Grou is in charge of risk management, finance, internal audit, taxation and investor relations and other key areas for Canada's sixth largest bank. She began her career at National in 1991 as a vice-president of credit for its international operations and was named CFO in 2007.
Ellen Costello, Harris Financial Corp., CEO
Ms. Costello heads up the U.S. personal and commercial banking business for Bank of Montreal, which includes a network of 312 branches in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. After the closing of BMO's acquisition of Marshall & Illsley Corp, Ms. Costello will shift operational responsibility to the chairman of M&I and will be U.S. country head for BMO with governance oversight for all U.S. operations.
Grant Robertson
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THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT
Some of Canada's top women in the banking industry have departed before crossing the finish line to the CEO suite:
Sonia Baxendale headed the retail banking operations of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce until the bank announced her departure Monday amid a shuffle in the top ranks. Richard Nesbitt, who runs CIBC's capital markets operations, was given greater responsibilities, seen as a sign he may become the bank's next CEO.
Barbara Stymiest was recruited to Royal Bank of Canada in 2004 from her job as CEO of TMX Group Inc., which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange. She was initially seen as a top choice to succeed Gordon Nixon as CEO of the bank, but announced her retirement in December, a year after her job responsibilities were reduced and her chief operating officer position was eliminated.
Jill Denham was one of the top women in Canada's banking sector when she became senior executive vice-president of CIBC's retail banking operations, and was named the eighth-most powerful female banking executive in 2004 by U.S. Banker magazine. She departed in 2005 when CIBC president Gerald McCaughey shuffled management ranks before moving into the CEO chair.