The Power of Networking
Gillian Riley, David Simmonds, Pamela Warren and Andrew Graham
” Building connections that count. “
November 14th, 2017
At the Toronto LinkedIn head office, we discussed leveraging networking and building a connection base in meaningful and useful ways. Our esteemed panelists, Gillian Riley (EVP, Commercial Banking, Scotiabank), David Simmonds (VP Enterprise Strategy, McKesson), Pam Warren (Partner, Egon Zehnder), and Andrew Graham (CEO, Borrowell), will discuss the importance of networking, the connection that advanced their career and engage in an audience Q&A alongside LinkedIn Moderator, Perry Monaco (Head of Customer Success).
Biography:
Gillian Riley, Executive Vice President, Commercial Banking, Scotiabank
In the role of Executive Vice President, Canadian Commercial Banking, Gillian is responsible for the overall strategic positioning, growth and direct management of several key integrated business areas that provide financial offerings including corporate finance solutions to businesses throughout Canada. She was appointed to this position in December 2015.
Gillian began her career with Scotiabank in 1994 in Commercial Banking, and has held progressively senior positions in the Canadian Bank with Retail Mortgages, Retail Deposits & Payments, Dundee Bank and most recently, Commercial Banking.
Gillian is a member of the Risk Policy and Senior Credit Committees at the Bank. She is also Chair of Roynat Capital’s Board of Directors and sits on the Board of the Canadian Club of Toronto.
Gillian holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Hartford Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Western Ontario (Western University).
She and her husband, Chris, have three children.
David Simmonds, VP Enterprise Strategy, McKesson
As VP Enterprise Strategy David leads the Coordination Office responsible for McKesson’s enterprise strategic plan, enterprise M&A opportunity evaluation, and the execution of cross business unit initiatives. In this role, David also serves as Chief of Staff to McKesson’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development.
Most recently, David was VP Communications and Public Affairs for McKesson Canada. Here, David led the transformation of company’s public policy, communications, and corporate marketing departments into one integrated public affairs function responsible for media relations, internal communications, corporate and content marketing, event marketing, corporate social responsibility, and government relations.
Throughout his career David has advised senior leaders in the private, public, and non-profit sector on mission critical communications strategies demonstrating particular expertise in higher education policy, financial communications, health policy, crisis management and reputation recovery.
David serves as President of Alumni Western – Western University’s global alumni network; a Director at Action Against Hunger Canada; a Director of the Canadian Club of Toronto; and, is a Government of Ontario’s appointee to the Board of Directors for the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. In 2015, the Diversity Advancement Network named David to their list of the Top 100 Black Canadians. As a member of the Ontario Government’s External Implementation Advisory Committee, David currently advises Ontario’s Minister responsible for Anti-Racism on strategies to combat anti-black racism.
A sought after public speaker, David’s commentary can be found in a variety of media including the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and CBC News: The National, where he served as a regular news contributor.
Pamela Warren, Partner, Egon Zehnder
Pamela Warren is a Partner in Egon Zehnder’s Toronto office. She co-leads our Board, Consumer, and Health practice groups in Canada. She brings depth of experience in recruitment at the CEO, executive and board level, and in advising on CEO succession planning. She also is a regular speaker on best practices in governance.
Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Pamela worked for the Mead Johnson Nutritional Division of Bristol Myers Squibb in general management, business development, and marketing in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Pamela completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and her MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
Andrew Graham, Chief Executive Officer, Borrowell
Andrew Graham is co-founder and CEO of Borrowell, a financial technology company that helps Canadians make great decisions about credit. Borrowell is the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free, and also provides low cost personal loans. Through a partnership with CIBC, Borrowell powers an online loan product to the bank’s customers. In 2017, Borrowell was named by LendIt as one of six young companies globally “that has demonstrated the greatest potential to impact the future of consumer lending.”
In addition to The Canadian Club of Toronto, Andrew serves on the board of Evergreen, which run the Brick Works and a variety of national environmental programs. He is co-founder of Toronto Homecoming, a profitable social enterprise that has connected hundreds of talented Canadians abroad with job opportunities in the region.
He holds an MA in economics from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Perry Monaco, Head of Customer Success, LinkedIn
Perry Monaco leads the Customer Success Organisation in Canada for LinkedIn, as well as a team of CSMs focused on CS activity in a pre-sales function in the USA. His teams work with talent acquisition departments and companies building social media recruitment strategies while focusing on the end user to manage retention, customer experience, and account growth through customer success planning. Perry was one of the first 4.5 million members of LinkedIn and was previously a recruiter before helping to build the CS practice at LinkedIn. Perry currently resides in Toronto.
Listen to the audio below: