Ivey’s first offering of the Women in Asset Management program across Canada has resulted in the largest cohort to date, uniting 50 women from seven universities for more than three months of in-class and hands-on asset management training.
The program kicked-off on April 30 with a welcome event at Ivey's Spencer Leadership Center where the students participated in a networking workshop and learned more about what’s in store for them in coming weeks. Aiming to address the industry’s gender gap, the Women in Asset Management (WAM) program offers four weeks of in-class training at Ivey and a 10- to 12-week internship at an asset management firm to participants at no cost.
Taking the program national
This is the third year of the program, which launched in March 2022 and has continued to grow ever since. Offered exclusively to Western University students in its first year, the program expanded last year to include students from McGill University in the second cohort, and, in November 2023, was opened up to undergraduate women across Canada. This year, the program has grown from 42 to 50 participants. While some students are from Western, the class also includes 18 non-Western students from McGill University, McMaster University, Queen’s University, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, and York University.
“We’re really excited to continue to grow the WAM program thanks to increased sponsorships, and to offer the opportunity to women at universities across Canada,” said Steve Foerster, HBA ’81, an Ivey finance professor who co-directs the program along with his colleague, Saurin Patel. “We continue to hear from our alumni how transformational the WAM experience is.”
Changing the trajectory of women’s careers and the industry
At the welcome event, Lyn Purdy, Ivey’s Associate Dean of Programs, told the students how the program aims to make meaningful change in the culture and representation of women in the asset management industry. She cited that representation of women in the asset management industry is about 14 per cent and only one per cent of the assets are managed by female-led fund firms.
“A lot must change. We need role models, we will need culture change and we need a funnel of qualified, interested young women to be ready for these opportunities,” she said. “This program at Ivey, with the commitment of the sponsors, and your engagement, is part of making that change.”
Thank you to the corporate sponsors
Ivey is proud to partner with 17 financial industry leaders to launch the WAM program. Sponsors include (Benefactor level) RBC Global Asset Management and Scotiabank Global Asset Management; (Leader level) CIBC Asset Management, Mackenzie Investments, and PSP; and (Partner level) AIMCO, BCI, BMO Global Asset Management, Brookfield, CI Financial, CPP Investment Board, Fiera Capital, Intact, OMERS, Polar Asset Management Partners, Sun Life Global Investments/Sun Life Capital Management, and University Pension Plan Ontario.
