TD Bank Group is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with 81,000 employees in offices around the world. TD Bank believes that diversity is key to their success in the competitive global marketplace.
The Board of Directors and the management of TD Bank Group are committed to leadership in corporate governance. One of the ways leadership is demonstrated is through board composition. The Bank’s corporate governance guidelines directs the Board to promote diversity on the Board – by age, geography, skills and experience as well as through the advancement of women, members of visible minority groups and people with disabilities.
TD Bank Group retains specialized recruitment forms to develop a list of candidates that meet the identified criteria. They instruct the recruiter to ensure the list contains diverse candidates including qualified women and members of visible minority groups. Potential nominees are assessed by the Corporate Governance Committee of the Board. The person who best meets the current competency requirements of the board is selected.
The result? Overall their Board of Directors can be considered to be 40% diverse. Five of TD’s 15 independent directors are women and one is from a visible minority group. With 33% female directors, TD is well above their peer financial institution average of 26% for representation of women in the slate of independent directors nominated in 2011. In addition, four of the five directors recruited in the past five years are from diverse groups – three are female and one is from a visible minority group.
The corporate award is organized and presented by the Canadian Board Diversity Council. www.boarddiversity.ca.
Profiles of other 2010 winners: