Rotman School of Management and TD Announce The Winner of the TD & Rotman Women @ Work Essay Competition Award: $10,000

TORONTO, June 16, 2015 – The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and TD Bank Group (“TD”) announced the winner of the TD & Rotman Women @ Work Essay Competition during a celebration lunch held on Monday at the Rotman School.

Between February 26 and April 23 women from across Canada with more than 10 years of work experience and a university degree, were encouraged to submit a 1,500 word personal essay about the choices they made between their careers, family and legacy aspirations. Receiving a total of 359 essays, submissions came in from across Canada from Yellowknife (NT) to Tatamagouche (NS), spanning an enormous breadth of experiences, backgrounds and industries.  The competition was led by Rotman’s Initiative for Women in Business.

Six finalists were selected and invited to Toronto for individual roundtable discussions with the final judging panel – taking place on the morning of June 15. After much deliberation, the winner of the TD & Rotman Women @ Work Essay Competition and recipient of the $10,000 prize was awarded to Dr. Karen Dawson and each of the remaining finalists also received a $1,000 award for sharing their incredible personal journeys.

“The essays submitted were exceptional and inspiring” said Geeta Sheker, Director of the Initiative for Women in Business at the Rotman School of Management. “The response to this competition was overwhelming. Clearly this was a subject that women were ready to discuss and we all feel so grateful to all the women who contacted us and submitted their essays.”

"It's great to be a part of an initiative that provides a platform for women, from across the country, to share their unique and powerful stories," said Sandy Cimoroni, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, TD Wealth. "This essay competition provided insights and gave voice to the challenges and tradeoffs women make in support of building a career, family and legacy.

The TD & Rotman Women @ Work Essay Competition winner and finalists include:

Dr. Karen Dawson lives and works in Calgary Alberta. She is an executive coach who also serves as a faculty member at The Banff Centre, Royal Roads University, and the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. Karen is also a collaborator and co-founder of the Deeper Funner Change Project, and the head of a boutique consultancy, called Create Now.

Dr. Loreen Gilmour lives and works in Calgary Alberta. She is the Director of Policy, Research and Operations at the Calgary United Way. The breadth of Loreen’s career has included marketing in consumer package goods industry, working with the Calgary Health Region, as well as being a college professor and board member on several non-profits boards.

Tania Grimmer is from Kincardine Ontario. She is currently a mental health worker with the Canadian Mental Health Association but began her career as a police officer before returning to university to earn a Master’s degree in Social Work.

Kari Lynn Larsen is from Thornhill Ontario and is the President and Founder of Dragonfly Meeting Solutions. She has over 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing and event management. 

Tara (Luft) Mora is from Etobicoke Ontario and is currently the Executive Producer for CBC Books and Literary Partnerships. Tara has built her career on the digital disruption of Canada’s cultural industries – first at Warner Music Canada and then at MapleCore Ltd.

Jennifer Villebrun is from Valleyview Alberta. She is a lawyer of Metis heritage who has practiced primarily in northern Alberta for the past ten years. Jennifer has been actively involved in a number of organizations including acting as President and Vice-president of the Valleyview & District Chamber of Commerce.

The TD & Rotman Women @ Work Essay Competition is part of a two year think tank initiative between TD and Rotman that is working to support the advancement of women in Canada.  Over the summer Rotman researchers will examine the essay submissions in aggregate to identify patterns and trends presented in the submissions with regards to the choices these women have or have not made between their careers, family and legacy aspirations, as well as provide concrete examples of ways corporations and educational institutions can better support women with their journeys. The goal is to collect all of the findings and publish them in a thought leadership paper in the fall of 2015.

Full biographies of the finalists as well as the winning essay can be found at:

www.rotman.utoronto.ca/tdwomenatwork

Rotman School of Management

The Rotman School of Management is located in the heart of Canada’s commercial and cultural capital and is part of the University of Toronto, one of the world’s top 20 research universities. The Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables our graduates to tackle today’s global business challenges. The Rotman School of Management is a leader in promoting and supporting gender diversity and is the only business school in Canada with a dedicated Initiative for Women in Business. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

Rotman’s Initiative for Women in Business has been committed to strengthening the female talent pipeline since 2008. With programming tailored for each stage of a woman’s career, participants gain strategic decision-making and leadership skills, and learn how to influence and inspire teams. Together with award-winning faculty and corporate partners, we proudly support women’s career development as a keystone to organizational prosperity.  www.rotman.utoronto.ca/women

About TD Bank Group

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves more than 24 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with approximately 10 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1 trillion in assets on April 30, 2015. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

About TD Wealth

TD Wealth represents the products and services of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. (Member-Canadian Investor Protection Fund), TD Waterhouse Private Investment Counsel Inc., TD Wealth Private Trust (offered by The Canada Trust Company) and TD Wealth Private Banking (offered by The Toronto-Dominion Bank).

For more information: