Lester Shore has been recognized as one of the leading professionals in the Canadian mortgage industry by being listed in the 2017 edition of Canadian Mortgage Professional magazine's Hall of Fame report.
Lester Shore honed his sales skills during his days as a bouncer at a bar, where his responsibilities included “getting people to do what they don’t want to do while in a bar.” Fast-forward to today: Shore is now a mortgage veteran of 40 years who joined Canadian Western Bank 2001; in 2004, he became the founding employee of CWB Optimum Mortgage, the residential lending business of CWB.
With a ‘work hard, play hard’ attitude, Shore has led CWB Optimum Mortgage to become one of the fastest-growing lines within CWB Financial Group. He has expanded the division from a team of four to more than 100 employees, with members located across Canada.
Thanks to his innate business sense, willingness to try new things and many lessons learned along the way, Shore was promoted to senior vice-president and regional general manager for the bank’s Northern Alberta region in 2017. In this role, Shore leads his team to effectively execute CWB’s strategy to be the best full-service bank for business owners in Canada.
Shore says the most valuable lesson he has learned during his time in the industry has been to “look at business issues from the perspective of the clients, employees or vendors. Using this approach will help you achieve alignment of goals or purpose so you can advance your agenda.”
