March Fireside Chat - Leading with Confidence

March's Topic: Leading with Confidence 

Sponsored by RBC

Featuring Speakers:  Janet Wood and John Montalbano

Please join the AWF on Thursday, March 9 for an important discussion on "Leading with Confidence" featuring speakers Janet Wood and John Montalbano. 

The Fireside Chat Series provides a small, intimate environment for industry professionals to network with top members of the financial community and meet with high-caliber business leaders. As this event has limited seats, register early to secure your spot. 

Time 

4:30pm - 7:00pm

• 4:30pm - Registration
• 5:00pm – 7:00pm – Discussion and Networking

Cost

$45 plus GST

A selection of wine and canapés will be served.

Venue

RBC -- Suite 3600, 1055 West Georgia Street, Vancouver 

Speakers

Janet Wood

Janet Wood is Global Head of Talent and Leadership at SAP. She and her team are responsible to attract, develop and enable leaders and employees to achieve personal and professional excellence and contribute to exceeding SAP’s strategic goals. She is responsible for the following areas: Leadership and Organizational Development, Talent & Organizational Insight, Executive Rewards & Equity, Global Total Rewards, Integrated Talent Management and Talent Experience. Wood reports to SAP’s Chief Human Resources Officer and she has recently relocated back to Vancouver after 2ó years in Germany.

In her former roles, Wood was executive vice president of Global Strategic Service Partners and executive vice president of Global Maintenance GTM. She joined SAP from Business Objects in 2008 where she worked as senior vice president of Global Partnerships since 2004. Prior to joining Business Objects, Wood was vice president of Business Development at Crystal Decisions. She has also held various management positions at IBM.

Aside from her senior management role at SAP, Wood is active in her community as a partner in BC Social Venture Partners, a not for profit organization that supports children and families at risk in Vancouver. She has recently joined the Alberta School of Business Advisory Counsel and entrepreneurship@UBC Advisory Board. She also mentors several employees at SAP as well as external protégés. Wood holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Alberta, Canada.

John Montalbano

John Montalbano recently retired as Vice Chair RBC Wealth Management and prior to that, CEO of RBC Global Asset Management. John is the first male recipient of an AWF PEAK Award in the "Champion" category, in recognition of his dedication to mentorship and support of gender initiatives. He began his career in asset management in 1988, as an equity analyst and portfolio manager at Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd. (PH&N) - a Vancouver based firm, then managing $3 billion in assets under management. While at PH&N, he assumed successive leadership roles until his appointment as President in 2005. 

In 2008, the Royal Bank of Canada acquired PH&N creating a firm with over $140 billion is assets under management and holding leading positions in retail, high net worth and institutional asset management. John became CEO of RBC’s newly expanded asset management business, known as RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). By 2015, when he retired as CEO, the organization had experienced top decile profitability and asset growth, as well as double digit annual growth in earnings. Moreover, during the period of 2008 to 2015, RBC GAM extended its scope to include offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, managing in aggregate more than $370 billion in assets worldwide, placing RBC GAM among the 50 largest asset managers worldwide. Not included in the aforementioned was RBC GAM's asset management joint venture with one of China's largest retail banks. The success that PH&N and RBC GAM achieved was entirely due to a superb group of employees, investment professionals and management team, with a singular focus of putting the interest of clients first and whose day to day business practices were ethical above all else.

John holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and a Bachelor of Commerce, with Honours, from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is a Leslie Wong Fellow of the UBC Portfolio Management Foundation and also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Emily Carr University.