EXPERIENCE TIMELINE
2019-2024 | DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS | CATHERINE FARQUHARSON COACHING
ESSENCE OF THE ROLE: Affectionately known as the ‘Queen of Operations’, I wore many strategic and support hats over the span of 5 years. Catherine is a transformation coach for women in business. I worked with Catherine in and on her business to see many years of success, evolution and growth. It was a gift to work so closely alongside a powerful and inspiring entrepreneur. It was a seat in the “rally car” not many people have the honour of occupying. To have the trust of a business owner to create and deliver in her brand and name was a privilege. I cannot fully express how much I learned in my time with Catherine. It was life-changing.
ACCOUNTABILITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Created community engagement & marketing for new business: Created work-back plans and communication schedules for all sales events (6 x per year), created community & internal newsletter schedules and templates, responsible for client portal copy maintenance and functionality
Client support, communication & experience design: support for 50-70 clients at a given time, handled program inquiries, payments & sales inquiries and overall client experience, weekly client call management (co-hosting, uploading, standalone recording editing, summary for client portal) for the signature program. Fielded client accounting & collections concerns
Designed, created and executed sales & promotional events: landing pages, banners, social media assets, and workbooks
Program development & asset management: curated and designed 8 Self Study Programs to complement the signature program
Responsible for all client onboarding and off-boarding
Data analysis & reporting: Created KPIs and weekly performance dashboard
Team design, support & coordination: created job descriptions & responsible for initial recruitment efforts
Technology trend tending & troubleshooting: secured new platforms
Responsible for website content updating & maintenance
Maintained company-wide calendars: client 1:1s, masterminds, launch calls, ad hoc 1:1s
2013-2019 | SENIOR LEADERSHIP ROLES | TD BANK
ESSENCE OF THESE ROLES: These roles were from my senior leadership era. This is when I would be leading groups of Managers who they themselves had teams of teams to lead. This is where high-level thinking came into play. I was not required to manage the day-to-day (my incredible teams did that) rather, it was required that I maintain a vision for our mandates and help my people execute on them. I got to design, hire and nurture my team of leaders. I regularly collaborated with incredible senior executive leaders who taught me a lot about good leadership.
*The Phone Channel is the line of business in which all transaction are carried out over the phone. Think contact centres of analysts, quality teams, Help Desks, etc. There were approximately 8500 employees in the Phone Channel at this time.
ROLE TITLES:
Senior Manager North American Employee Engagement Programs
Senior Manager Sales Strategy & Solutions
Senior Manager Strategic Initiatives
Senior Manager Direct Life & Health Centres
ACCOUNTABILITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Key strategy lead of Employee Engagement and Sales programs within Phone Channel
Liaison between Phone Channel’s executive team, Shared Services, HR and Learning & Development partners and North American delivery centres
Launched New Team Manager on-boarding program
Created The Leadership Learning Journey and learning calendar for junior leadership population
Led the discovery efforts on new hire journey mapping and created a multi-stream program to aid in stemming new hire attrition and improve overall integration into a TD career
Acted as an advocate and expert for enterprise-wide initiatives like the Continuous Listening program, Workday Launch & Sales Practice Review
Designed and led an extensive leadership capacity analysis used to increase leadership efficiency and streamline internal processes
Owned and ran key Sales and Retention initiatives for the Protecting Pillar Operations
Key owner of Sales Revenue performance, Sales Planning & Advisor Goals setting and Customer Loyalty
Strong YoY growth of cross sales, closing ratios and decreased cancellation rates
Delivered on Customer Loyalty Program - developed individual level retention metrics, multiple discounts and training
Created, developed and executed Enablement Forums for Team Manager and General Manager populations to increase data literacy, share key business insights and enhance how to coach performance outliers
Orchestrated all key Customer Service Centre employee and leader impacting initiatives, maintained long term calendar of activities, responsible for prioritization and socialization, supported both the Operations and Phone Channel Shared Services
2002-2013 | LEADERSHIP ROLES | TD BANK & INSURANCE
ESSENCE OF THESE ROLES: These roles were the precursor to my more senior leadership roles. This is where I got to tune into my natural leadership skills and learn how to tap into strategic thinking. I learned how to recruit (and how not to recruit) and how to coach and motivate people to perform better in their roles. I learned how important it was to stay true to my authentic coaching voice when leading people. This is when I met Nokwanda (see My People section) and 10 years later, my instinct proved to be sound.
ROLE TITLES:
Manager Life & Health Insurance Centre
Manager Client Services General Insurance
Manager Quality & Compliance
Team Leader Client Services General Insurance
ACCOUNTABILITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Managed a team of 7 Team Managers (100 Advisors) within 5 sales teams, responsible for over 30% of centre's production
Executed regional and national business strategies - written premium growth, loss ratio decrease and internal TD Pulse action planning sessions
Proven track record with regional and national projects which had contributed to the profitability and efficiency of the operations.
Underwriting Transformation &. Efficiency Projects: Improving Quote Process, Continuous Improvement, Reducing Non-Transactional Calls & Non Phone Duties
Year over year compliance increase and successful audit results (Underwriting, SOX and TDBG), significant reduction in risk events YoY (2012 - 27% to 2013 - 0)
2002-2013 | OTHER ROLES | VARIOUS
ESSENCE OF THESE ROLES: These are the in between jobs, the after university jobs and the I-have-no-idea-what-I-will-do-with-my-life jobs, yet they are the roles that opened my love for new experiences. Through them I learned what I wanted work to look like.
ROLE TITLES:
Unit Manager of Krispy Kreme Donuts
Landscaper, Corporate Landscaping
Licensed Analyst, TD Insurance
LIFETIME | EXPERIENCE | VARIOUS ROLES
ESSENCE OF THESE ROLES: These should really be at the top of this timeline. These are the volunteer roles and experiences I’ve lived throughout my life. Even though unpaid in coins at times, they have been the MOST replenishing, eye-opening and heart filling roles I’ve ever occupied.
ROLE TITLES:
Big Sister, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto
Advisory Committee Member & Fundraiser, Inspirations Studio
Seasonal Beekeeper, Gibbs Honey
Documentary Producer, Kelsey Blake Creative
Host, Official & Timekeeper, Cedar Ridge Camp Luge Retreat
AWARDS
Recognized by The Government of Ontario with the June Callwood Award for Volunteerism. This is a well-deserved celebration of the incredible work of volunteers who were involved in first, saving the studio from the brink of closure in 2017, and then safely stewarding the program to it's forever home with YWCA Toronto in 2022.
1997-2001 | BACHELOR OF ARTS | UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
Communication and Media Studies (Media Information & Technoculture)
Graduated Dean’s Honour List
Discovered how to toboggan on a cafeteria tray