Emerging Leaders Program
Designed to support the advancement of women and gender-diverse professionals at critical leadership stages
Elevating women in the finance sector
As one of VersaFi’s flagship initiatives, the Professional Mentorship Program has been accelerating careers across North America for nearly three decades.
Our 12-month program connects mentees with experienced leaders. Mentees gain guidance to set ambitious goals, overcome career obstacles, and expand their professional networks. Mentors acquire an opportunity to coach, inspire, and make an impact, paying forward the valuable lessons of an advanced career.
The program is open to eligible women and gender-diverse professionals.
Why become a mentor?
Make a lasting impact on an emerging professional’s career journey. Sharing your insights, experience, and strategic perspective helps mentees build essential skills while expanding your own leadership and coaching capacity.
Why become a mentee?
Gain direct access to seasoned industry leaders dedicated to your professional growth. Mentees develop actionable career strategies, enhance critical problem-solving skills, and build meaningful networks within the VersaFi community.
Mentee Eligibility
Mentor Eligibility
Please note: VersaFi membership is not required to participate as a mentor.
Mentors and mentees are paired using an advanced matching algorithm to ensure objective and optimal alignment based on goals and experience. While location is considered, pairings may span across different regions to maximize fit.
Applications open on September 23, 2026 and close on November 13, 2026 at 11pm EST.
Mentee Application Components:
Mentor Application Components:
Successful candidates will be contacted via
e-mail following the application close date.
Kick-Off Event
Wednesday, January 20, 2027 | 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Mentors and mentees meet for the first time.
Mentor Coaching Session
Tuesday, February 4, 2027 | 4:30 – 5:30 PM
For mentors only: Session with Tanya van Biesen, President & CEO, VersaFi.
Ongoing Mentorship
January – December 2027 | Monthly
Mentors and mentees meet once a month for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
WCM’s Mentorship Program is truly changing lives. It’s not always possible to predict how exactly a program will transform lives and everyone will be impacted in different ways but for me the mentorship program truly has. Through high caliber mentors and high caliber presenters, WCM has created a space for growth and realizations that pushes high performers to reach their full potential.
(note: this program was formerly referred to as the WCM Mentorship Program)
Broadening the intellectual input of the business is essential for its investment
I have found it rewarding to pass on the knowledge I have gained through my experiences in helping new entrants in the financial markets industry negotiate the minefield of the early years of their careers.
My mentor not only shared her industry insights, but also gave me advice when I tried to make a career move. The guidance is essential to someone new to the industry.
Having a wife who also works in Capital Markets has allowed me to closely experience the challenges she has navigated while building her career in this field. She has been inspirational to me and I have seen her build a great business and career. I see every day from her example and others around me that to truly build successful businesses, firms have to value diversity of thought above else and advancing and retaining women in Capital Markets is crucial to ensuring this diversity of thought endures.
Sounds obvious to anyone that every individual should have opportunities to grow in every industry independent of race, gender, etc. Finance should lead the way!
I began my career in finance in the mid 1980s when there were very few women in the industry. As such, I value the opportunity to help navigate the career path for younger women today. Having more women in Capital Markets is extremely important in terms of achieving equality and diversity which will benefit all.
Women bring another perspective to the business, make strong leaders, and can offer well thought out solutions to problems. Their voices are often not given a chance to be heard and sometimes there is an over worry of barriers. A more diversified company can help align with the needs of your own diversified clients. I think the WCM mentorship program is great in helping with these areas and a wonderful program for both the Mentee and Mentor.
(note: this program was formerly referred to as the WCM Mentorship Program)
Women bring a unique perspective to capital markets in the way that they develop and manage relationships and drive forward initiatives. It is very important to elevate strong females as much as possible so they are able to share their voice/opinions. This program offers that opportunity.
It is essential to get the best performance of any team – having diverse views and the best people is key. Advancing women and retaining them is something I have done throughout my whole career.
Our industry needs more women leaders. I value helping ambitious and capable women reach their career potential in capital markets.
As a woman in Finance, I am committed to sharing my experiences and to helping others get the best access to training and opportunities to further their personal and career goals. Women need advocates and coaching so they are best prepared to succeed in this industry.
Diversity in capital markets is important. This is the only way to have a diversity of views. This will only be achieved if women are supported throughout their career. The mentoring program is a necessary condition to achieving this.
Having been the only female on the trading desk for the past ten years, I really hope that I can help attracting more females into the trading role. Gender diversity has been improved over the past few years but still a lot room to improve. By having more senior female leaders in the industry as role models, female will feel more encouraged to enter and stay in the field once dominated by male.
I am involved in a number of mentoring programs and WCM continues to be the best, and the value add to the Mentors in recent years has been great.
(note: this program was formerly referred to as the WCM Mentorship Program)
