How diverse and representative is Canada's mortgage industry?

There’s no question about it: the mortgage industry, viewed decades ago as a sector dominated by men, is changing. Women are increasingly coming to the fore across the brokering and lending spaces – but is the industry as representative and fair as it could be?

Speaking to Canadian Mortgage Professional at the recent Women in Mortgage Summit in Toronto, several top female executives shared their thoughts on the current landscape facing women in the industry and the progress needed looking ahead.

For Leanne Conroy (pictured, top left), regional director of sales at MCAN Home, the hundreds of women in attendance at the Toronto event reflected the positive steps that have been taken to address the issue of equality in the mortgage industry.

“There are 600 women in there. I think the mortgage industry is very diverse – I don’t think it’s male-dominated. I think that’s being slowly weeded out,” she said. “It’s not just about women – it’s diversity.

“So you look around when you have your meetings, whether it’s your boardroom meeting or your entire company social and I think, ‘Wow, we have all the boxes checked,’ and they’re checked because these people are fit for the roles. The role is good for them.”

While progress may be slow, Conroy said the mortgage industry appears to be performing well on the diversity front compared with other sectors.

Rosanna Stofberg (pictured, top centre), director, total rewards and people orientation at Questrade Financial Group, also highlighted the big turnout at the Summit as an example of how women are successfully forging their paths in the mortgage industry.

“I think a lot of great strides have been made in representation across all industries, including mortgages,” she said. “The amazing amount of dynamic people here today shows that.”

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Much progress made, plenty still to be done

Vivianne Gauci (pictured, top right), senior vice president at HomeEquity Bank, paid tribute to the women blazing a trail within the industry and highlighted the need to continue pushing ahead.

“I think we have incredible woman leaders right now both at the industry level and within organizations themselves,” she said. “So I think we’ve made incredible progress and I think we still have a lot of work to do.”

For Rejean Roberge (pictured below), vice president at CWB Optimum Mortgage, a lot of strong work has been done by organizations in their focus and how they set priorities regarding diversity – and she emphasized the need for companies to continue “walking the talk” and showing that their actions meet their words when it comes to diversity commitments.

She said a continuing commitment to inclusion and representativeness means being mindful of the different considerations that parents and caregivers have, and continuing to find ways to include them in the decision-making process.

“I can’t be going to the golf course for meetings, or for a dinner afterwards, to be able to participate in those discussions,” she said. “You need to be inclusive and allow those who might carry the caregiver responsibilities to participate.”

Kiki Sauriol Roode (pictured below), Sagen vice president, business development highlighted the role other women have to play in helping push progress forward.

“I think it’s an interesting thing on the journey to equality: many years ago when I started in the mortgage industry there were not nearly as many women, and I think it’s always been important for women to lift each other up, learn from each other,” she said.

“The reality is raising children and holding a full-time job and wanting to excel in your career does mean a lot of juggling and so I think there’s a lot of things we can learn from each other who are on the same path and doing a lot of the same things.”

She also underlined the need for more representative of women in the upper corporate echelons of the mortgage industry, which still tend to skew towards men in terms of representation.

“I think that if you looked at most organizations there would be a relatively good balance of men and women inside the organization,” she said. “Where I think there is still opportunity is for women to excel in leadership roles.

“If you look at the executive level, it continues to be primarily male-dominated, although we are seeing women with seats at the table in the executive rooms much more regularly than they did before.”

Increasing representation of women within top positions

Elena Robinson (pictured below), vice president, residential sales at First National Financial, noted that 75% of her company’s VPs were women, but emphasized the further steps that need to be taken within the wider industry to ensure as representative a space as possible.

“There are other areas that need more help to guide them along, for those women to advance, progress in this industry,” she said. “So yes, there’s still some work to be done.

“And I think if you’re in a senior leadership role you can help those along. I always like meeting new up-and-comers. For me, it’s almost like my responsibility to meet these young, dynamic women and help them along their career journey.”

Meanwhile, Fern Glowinsky (pictured below), Haventree Bank’s president and chief executive officer, outlined the need for representation within the industry to keep pace with the changing profile type of mortgage borrowers in Canada.

“I think the client base – people who borrow mortgages – is obviously representative of society and I think the mortgage industry ought to keep pace with that, whether it’s gender or ethnicity,” she said.

“So I think we’re probably continuing to evolve like other industries – but events like this are tremendous for helping that growth.”  

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