TD colleagues show up for their communities
Seeking opportunities and a way to give back, Josh Brooks joined TD Bank Group 14 years ago after graduating from McMaster University. He felt that the TD values of social engagement and supporting the community aligned with his own, making it a great match.
Starting as a customer service representative in Burnaby, B.C., Brooks advanced through various banking roles, moving across different cities from Vancouver to Toronto to Whitehorse, where he’s currently a branch manager. In each location, he felt welcomed and found great camaraderie among colleagues who looked out for one another.
“TD has a culture of care, with leaders who genuinely support your development, making sure that colleagues have both personal and professional fulfilment,” says Brooks. “Everywhere I’ve been within the bank, I’ve found that same culture of care, with colleagues who understand and support you in your own endeavours, and accept who you are. As I grew into leadership roles, I’ve continued to uphold that culture, including mentoring others.”
As a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Brooks says TD is a safe and inclusive environment where you can bring your authentic self to work.
“I’ve always been able to be my authentic self since the first time I walked through the doors,” he says. “That still remains true today.”
TD’s culture of care and commitment to inclusion has also played an important role in Jenn Lang’s career journey at TD. Coming from the broadcast industry, she was new to banking, and like Brooks, she was “supported, inspired and challenged from day one.”
After starting as senior manager of consumer insights in marketing, she quickly advanced to more challenging roles, leading the transformation and digitization of TD’s customer experience measurement and helping establish the centre of expertise on consumer behaviour as well as the diverse community insights practice team. Five years ago, she was promoted to her current role as vice president, enterprise customer experience and consumer insights.
“I was fortunate early on to work with several smart, driven and supportive women leaders who helped me onboard quickly and presented me with opportunities to demonstrate my expertise and skills,” says Lang. “TD executive leaders are all encouraged and expected to mentor colleagues and sponsor top talent.”
Additionally, Lang has dedicated time and energy to supporting diverse communities, both as an executive lead at TD and as a board member of a non-profit focused on rebranding disability through achievement. She says she feels inspired by the many TD colleagues and leaders who volunteer to help break down barriers, ensuring that individuals from multicultural and disability communities can grow, succeed and thrive – not just in their careers, but in their lives as well.
“As a Chinese woman with a non-apparent disability, diversity, equity and inclusion are core values in my life, and I believe they are essential in the workplace,” she says. “Though it doesn’t get easier, I continue to share my story in the hope of helping others navigate their own journey of self-identity.”
Like Lang, Brooks has been able to make an impact on the communities that matter most to him. His proudest moment was being selected for the TD Vision in Action Award, the highest honour at TD, in recognition of his volunteer work within the 2SLGBTQ+ community. TD not only encourages its more than 95,000 employees to volunteer, but also funds community giving, with a target of $1 billion by 2030.
“TD’s role in the community is a key part of this organization,” says Brooks. “We help lead our colleagues by focusing on doing what’s right for our customers, colleagues and communities where we live. Giving back is ingrained in our culture.”
The caring culture at TD is inclusive by design
Yvonne Wright, event coordinator, diversity & inclusion (D&I), has experienced working in many different departments during her 34-year career at TD Bank Group, but that’s not the only reason why she’s stayed so long.
“There’s so much opportunity to be able to move around and try different things,” says Wright. “It’s like a new job each time, but in the same company. You get to improve your skill set and acquire a fresh lens to bring to the next posting. I love that about TD!”
Wright initially started out with TD Credit Cards and then moved into telephone banking before going back to school to do her bachelor of arts. While studying, TD accommodated her schedule, allowing her to cut back to part-time and then return to full-time once she graduated. When an opportunity arose in the D&I team, an area she wanted to pursue, Wright jumped at it.
“Being a woman of colour and someone who has an invisible disability, I was already a big advocate for volunteering and giving back to the community,” says Wright. “I enjoy working in D&I because I get to see first-hand what the bank is doing to be more inclusive, by helping provide access to designated spaces such as prayer rooms, mothering rooms, gender-neutral bathrooms and workplace accommodations for individual needs.
“At TD, we encourage everyone to bring their authentic self to work, whatever your gender, diversity, disability or ability. TD really tries to accommodate everyone.” Wright believes in TD so much that her daughter Eltisha also works for the company.
Upal Hossain, associate vice president, product group technology lead, joined TD in 2015 as a software engineer and briefly left, but returned after 14 months. He quickly got a management opportunity and then grew into more senior levels of leadership, becoming an executive three years ago.
“One thing that became clear to me very quickly was the consistent culture of care at TD,” says Hossain. “I came back because I found the sense of accomplishment I get delivering things here is greater. This is my second inning but I’m here for the long term.”
Born in Bangladesh, Hossain came to Canada when he was 10 years old, opening his first bank account at a TD branch. He recalls staff were always very respectful to customers, and he’s found the same respect given to colleagues. Like Wright, he sees lots of opportunities for a diverse career experience.
“I never saw myself as a banker because I’m tech-minded, but somehow I ended up working in a bank,” says Hossain. “Now I’m doing my MBA on the side and TD has been helping me with that as well. I can see myself taking on business segment roles in the future. With TD being such a large company with so many lines of businesses, the career possibilities are almost endless.”
His current job in technology has helped him see the importance of D&I from a different angle.
“When you work in data, D&I is at the forefront,” says Hossain. “If you look at the decisions we make that really impact our customers and colleagues, diversity of thought matters. TD is very inclusive by design, involving different communities we have within the bank to inform decision-making, which is healthy because it provides greater diversity.”
At TD, diversity and inclusion are part of the fundamental values shaping how the bank strives to help support its customers, colleagues and communities – and move towards creating a barrier-free culture for everyone.
“We are always changing,” Wright says. “We’re always moving forward together.”
TD takes a unified approach to sustainability
The first thing Scott Kirby did when he started as a TD Insurance (TDI) advisor at TD Bank Group 17 years ago was join the Green Team, an employee-driven environmental committee, focused on raising awareness and empowering colleagues. Always passionate about sustainability, Kirby held several management positions in TDI before moving into his current role in 2022 as manager, environmental partnerships and initiatives.
“From my early days at TD, I’ve had the opportunity to bring my passion for the environment to work,” says Kirby, a recent TD Insurance Allstar annual award recipient. “My managers were consistently supportive, helping me find opportunities to be involved as a volunteer. Now it’s very exciting to officially have an environment-focused component to my mandate and be able to do what I love for my job.”
Kirby works closely with the TDI Advisory Board on Climate Change, including initiatives focused on climate resiliency and educating customers and the community on how they can reduce risks associated with extreme weather. For instance, TDI recently sponsored an event in Edmonton to raise awareness on the increasing issue of basement flooding risks. Another example is the Green Citizen Symposium, sponsored by TDI at Seneca College in Toronto, that hosted keynote speakers and held workshops on topics such as wildfire, biodiversity loss and the role of corporations in addressing the risks of climate change.
The bank supports environmental projects in the community with corporate giving and employee volunteering through the TD Ready Commitment – its corporate citizenship platform.
“I’m proud to work at an organization where I can participate in initiatives designed to make an impact, not only locally, but across the country and worldwide with some of the global programs we participate in,” says Kirby. “Every year, I look forward to TD Tree Days, which has a goal of planting one million trees and shrubs by 2030. It is great to see TD employees and members of the general public attend these events.”
Since the program began in 2010, more than 511,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted with the help of volunteers across Canada.
Hamida Sachedina, associate vice-president, social strategy & advice, says focus on sustainability is an integral part of the bank’s culture and corporate strategy. Sachedina leads the team that guides the social pillar of the TD sustainability strategy. Launched in 2023, TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion focuses on helping to improve employment, financial and housing access.
“Economic inclusion has long been core to the bank’s sustainability priorities,” says Sachedina. “The new TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion framework unifies our work across our business, philanthropy and employment practices, which inspires our future efforts toward improving economic inclusion.
“A great example of a recent initiative at TD to help improve economic inclusion is the Black Entrepreneur Credit Access Program, which is designed to provide more equitable access to credit for Black entrepreneurs, who disproportionately face hurdles to securing funding for their businesses.”
Sachedina attributes the achievement of TD Pathways to Economic Inclusion and her own success during her nine-year career journey at TD to the supportive culture she experiences, where people are willing to open doors and help others grow. Kirby would agree, saying, “We truly have a culture of care and a focus on engaging employees and empowering them to help make a difference for a better future.”