As of 2021, women still account for only a mere 15% of North American advisors and 23% of Canadian financial advisors. During the course of the global pandemic, a total of 54 million women across the globe resigned from their current positions and 90% of them exited the workforce completely.*
This is alarming and illustrates the active widening of an ongoing workforce gender disparity. As a firm, we look at these statistics as a failure.
Driven by the mission, to embody a philosophy of independent, unbiased advice with an unwavering commitment to delivering true wealth management – Harbourfront has been an active player in working to eliminate gender-based disparities. An example of this is equal pay for equal work.
Female leaders are essential to the fabric of work and gender-diversity efforts must include women from all walks of life – all ethnicities, races, religions, sexual orientations and socioeconomic statuses and the catalyst for change must come from the top.
Harbourfront Wealth Management is co-founded by a seasoned group of founders including Lynn Stibbard, Harbourfront’s current CFO and COO. Lynn has been in the wealth management industry for over 30 years and is an outspoken ambassador for women.
She believes the next generation will have more female CEOs and presidents and it is her and the firm’s mission to make this happen.
We Are Placing Women In Executive Leadership Roles
Over the last two years, we have increased the number of women in executive leadership roles at the firm, and our goal is to train, educate and encourage promotion from within while ensuring equal opportunity for all candidates.
“Gender is never a criteria by which we would differentiate candidates for promotion to executive and management positions, however I do try to encourage the women in our firm to step up as candidates for those positions, and to provide the mentorship and backup support that enables them to clearly demonstrate their abilities and potential as a leader.
Women in leadership provides a great balance on an executive team, and a diversity of viewpoint that benefits the entire organization.”
– Lynn Stibbard, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer
We Are Prioritizing The Onboarding Of Female Advisors
The industry is skewed male but as of late, women advisors are entering the Canadian wealth industry. The bar is high at Harbourfront and for advisors who demonstrate excellence and align with the expectations of our high-caliber team, we open the door as quickly as possible.
Women-Led Initiatives
Harbourfront is an ecosystem of seasoned partners who work together to uplift each individual practice under the Harbourfront Wealth Management umbrella. One of our initiatives is an exclusive women-only virtual meeting forum that takes place monthly between our women advisors across the country. This collaborative setting allows for building synergies, leverages from each other’s experiences & knowledge and through celebrating individual’s successes comes empowerment and growth. This initiative was launched by a group of women advisors at the firm.
Additionally, women advisors at the firm engage in various activities to support the financial literacy of women in their communities. This includes running and organizing financial empowerment workshops and entrepreneurial courses for women.
“The dynamic and innovative females at Harbourfront collectively support one another because we know there is enough success to go around and clients to serve who are looking for progressive and women-led strategies.”
Women-Led Wealth Management
“As part of a women-led advisory team here at Harbourfront, our mission is to help more people open an internal dialogue to reveal their history and develop their future relationship with money. We have the freedom to do things a little differently here.
When you are the custodian of money, you can do great things in the world! So, dream big and be confident in your ability to generate money and spend it well.”
– Tracey Lundell, Senior Investment Advisor – Sea Glass Wealth Advisory Group
Reach out to Tracey: tlundell @ seaglasswealth.com
Pictured: Sheryl Thomas, Tracey Lundell, Kristina Thomas
Dependable, Purposeful, Relatable
“As wealth creation and ownership amongst women grows at the fastest rate in history, it’s an imperative time for firms to focus on attracting more women portfolio managers to help service the needs of this expanding demographic.”
– Ladan Shokrgozar, Portfolio Manager – Oakwater Wealth Counsel
Reach out to Ladan: lshokrgozar @ harbourfrontwealth.com