Open Jun 5, 2024
Emerging Leaders Program
Mid-level professionals: break through to the next level of your career with individual and group professional coaching sessions.
Accelerating gender diversity in finance
VersaFi’s Professional Mentorship program has provided more than 1,000 women and gender-diverse finance professionals with access to formal mentorship relationships.
This founding VersaFi program pairs mentee’s with mentors outside their firm for a twelve-month period. With a mentor’s support and guidance, mentee’s establish career goals, discuss strategies to overcome challenges, benefit from a mentor’s knowledge and experience and extend their professional network. For mentors, the program is equally rewarding as it is an opportunity to share their knowledge and experience, coach, motivate, empower and support women and gender-diverse professionals advance their careers.
With the program moved to a virtual format Mentors and Mentees from across North America are encouraged to apply. VersaFi will try to match folks in the same region so face-to-face meetings are possible.
AdvanceAbility: As part of the VersaFi Mentorship Program, there is also an opportunity to opt-in as an AdvanceAbility protégée during the application period. AdvanceAbility is supplemental to the core mentorship program and provides additional resources for women and gender-diverse folks working in finance who identify as having a visible or non-visible disability. If you would like to learn more, please email info@versafi.ca to be connected with one of our AdvanceAbility volunteers.
Thank you to our AdvanceAbility Sponsor:
Why mentor?
Mentors have the unique opportunity to support the professional development of mentees and maximize their potential through knowledge sharing, support and guidance in the advancement of their skills and expertise. A mentorship relationship fosters the growth, learning and development of a mentee that can impact their personal and professional life for years to come.
Why be a mentee?
Mentees are offered the opportunity to experience the power of wisdom by a professional holding the experience and knowledge to truly impact the growth of their career, while benefiting from the human connection through this formative relationship. Establish tangible career plans, goal setting, grow professional networks and develop problem solving skills for professional challenges. The rewards are timeless.
*Please Note: It is not mandatory to be a VersaFi member if you want to participate as a mentor in this program.
Using an algorithm, we pair mentors and mentee’s, for optimal, unbiased pairing. In this process, location is considered but there is a chance a mentor and mentee may be in different regions.
Mentee Application Components:
Mentor Application Components:
Successful candidates will be contacted via e-mail following the application close date.
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)
