2023 Parity Forum — Toronto

big-icon-logo-red
Past Event
Thursday, June 1st, 2023
From 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Scotia Plaza, Toronto or Online

40 King Street West, Toronto, ON, M5H 3Y2

In 2022, a record number of 83 prestigious organizations have submitted their application to obtain Women in Governance’s (WiG) Parity Certification. We proudly unveiled the latest cohort of certified organizations on International Women’s Day, and we are now delighted to open registration for anyone wishing to attend our annual Parity Forum which will be held at the Scotia Plaza in Toronto, but you can also join us virtually!

This year’s forum will provide you with an in depth look at the importance of monitoring and assessing your programs, initiatives, and policies and how analytical data help organizations make better, more informed, and more inclusive decisions.

The panel discussion will feature esteemed members of our Parity Certification’s consultant partners:

  • Shona Eakins, Capital Markets Technology Consulting Manager in Asset Management at Accenture
  • Kelly Mawhinney, Partner, Toronto Careers Business at Mercer
  • Nicola Meyer, Senior Director and Toronto Market Leader, Employee Experience, WTW

We are pleased to be able to offer the panel discussion in a hybrid manner. For those that are able to attend in person we look forward to providing networking and interactive activities during the hour following the moderated discussion.

Please see all speakers’ full bios further below.

FREE ADMISSION – MANDATORY REGISTRATION
For those who want to attend in-person, please note that seating is limited. First come, first served!

N.B. A French discussion will be held in Montreal on June 8.

Speakers

Shona Eakins joined Accenture in 2019 as a Capital Markets Technology Consulting Manager in Asset Management helping ‘buy side’ asset managers (insurance companies, pension funds) with their technology ventures.  These ventures span everything from transforming trading and accounting systems to CRM implementations, moving to SAAS/cloud solutions and automating day-to-day processes. Shona is a member of Accenture Canada’s Women’s ERG committee and an active proponent of Accenture’s parity and recruiting ventures.  Last year Shona gave the keynote speech closing the University of Toronto’s International Women’s Day celebrations (for WISE – Women in Science and Engineering) sharing her experience in two typically male dominated industries (Capital Markets and Technology).  Prior to joining Accenture Shona worked as a Portfolio Manager in Capital Markets and Hedge Fund Administration in Bermuda.  Shona has an MBA in Information Technology Management, is a fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute and fun fact:  a member of Twitter’s first names club @shona.

Kelly Mawhinney is a Partner with Mercer Canada, where she leads the Toronto Career practice. The Career line of business focuses on providing clients with Talent & Rewards advisory services and products. Kelly works in conjunction with two other business lines bringing all of Mercer’s capabilities; Health, Wealth and Career – to the Canadian market. Previously, as the CHRO of Holt Renfrew (Interim) Kelly ran the day-to-day HR business, stabilizing the HR team, filling in functional gaps, and adding practices such as Org. Effectiveness, D&I and HRIS; bringing forward a refreshed leadership team, and imbedding the function with change and project management disciplines.​ Prior to 2021, Kelly had several leadership roles within professional services firms. Most recently, based in Amsterdam, working across Western Europe, Kelly led the Talent practice at Willis Towers Watson supporting CHRO clients. Previously, with Accenture, Kelly lead an HR Transformation team within the Human Capital practice, while also teaching part-time as an adjunct professor in Human Resources Management at York University.​ Earlier in her career Kelly worked in Banking, with a focus on HR and IT: within RBC leading an internal consulting team focused on HR, Operations & Technology, and within Scotiabank in internal consulting focused on OD, Operations and IT. During this period Kelly also served as an Executive Partner in IBM’s Business Consulting Services. ​

Nicola Meyer is a Senior Director and Market Leader for Willis Towers Watson’s Employee Experience team in Toronto and has over 18 years’ experience managing corporate, internal and change communications. Nicola specializes in communicating change and works closely with colleagues in WTW’s Retirement and Health, Wealth & Career practices to develop and deliver projects for clients across the public and private sectors. Specific areas of expertise include pay, benefit and pension change, internal communications, Employee Value Proposition development, large-scale projects, reputation management, crisis/issues management and strategic planning. Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson Toronto, Nicola was responsible for leading all communications activities and managing projects for the Royal Bank of Canada’s global HR Compensation and Benefits Centre of Expertise. Originally from Ireland, Nicola was the Communication & Change Management practice lead at WTW Dublin from 2014 to 2016, where she managed the communication of some of the country’s largest and most complex pay, benefit and pension change projects. Before she joined WTW Dublin, Nicola was a Client Director at Fleishman Hillard International Communications, where she advised Irish and international organisations on corporate communications activities, co-ordinated a number of global campaigns and carried out assignments on location in Europe and the Middle East.

About our Parity Certification

The alarming statistics on the number of women in senior management positions or on Boards are what motivated the founding of Women in Governance (WiG) in 2010. The mission of our non-profit organization is to support women in their career advancement and leadership development; with our Parity Certification, we also support organizations working to close the gender gap in the workplace while accounting for the multiple impacts of diversity in women’s career advancement. Created in 2017 with the pro bono support of McKinsey & Company, this valuable tool helps organizations assess what their current status is as it relates to gender equity, diversity, and inclusion. With the support of Accenture, Mercer, and WTW, WiG provides a comprehensive analysis of strengths and opportunities to close the gender gap and become a more inclusive workplace, giving particular attention to intersectionality. So far, 700,000 employees across Canada and the United States work for an organization that holds Women in Governance Parity Certification, and the program is now about to expand over the Atlantic. Visit our Parity Certification microsite to learn more!