Report on Top 100 Women: CORPORATE EXECUTIVES: ZABEEN HIRJI

‘Fulfilling potential’ vital to Royal Bank’s senior vice-president of human resources

Globe and Mail
November 25, 2008

DEIRDRE KELLY

Zabeen Hirji has a personal slogan: Think big, and take action to get there. These are words the mother of two lives by, and regularly dispenses as the Royal Bank of Canada’s [Chief Human Resources Officer.]

“I feel sometimes that the greatest limitation to a woman’s success are the limitations we women put on ourselves,” says Ms. Hirji, who is of East Indian descent.

“I’m all for breaking down barriers, for giving people, regardless of their gender or ethnicity, the chance to fulfill their potential.”

Born 1960 in Tanzania to an entrepreneurial father, owner of a soft-drink bottling plant, and a take-charge mother, she says she was inspired early on to think that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

“Our dinner table conversations were always about business,” recalls Ms. Hirji, whose family immigrated to Canada in 1974.

“So I grew interested in business, and thought that the financial services industry seemed a good fit for me, as I was good at numbers at school and also very analytical.”

After completing an MBA at Simon Fraser University she took a job at the Royal Bank, where she had been a satisfied customer.

“There was no grand plan,” she says of her career. “Banking simply seemed like a good possibility. … I think of [the bank] now as my second home. I’ve grown up there, and I think that’s what’s unique about me: I know the culture inside and out.”

Her knowledge of the bank’s inner workings comes from donning several hats in her climb to the top. She started in retail banking and progressed to credit cards and operations before arriving at human resources, where she became [chief human resources officer in 2007.]

Widely recognized as a workplace innovator, she has helped turn the 139-year-old RBC into an industry trailblazer with policies such as flex time, working from home, and career advancements from within.

Ms. Hirji also champions workplace diversity. “Over the last 15 years, as the population of Canada has become more diverse with regards to ethnicity, we have taken action to make sure we were attracting the best and the most talented,” she says. “Our client base is diverse, and so we needed a workplace that reflected the changing demographic.”

A member of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, in 2005 she was named a Fellow of Centennial College in recognition of her role in the workplace advancement of women, visible minorities and new immigrants.

Ms. Hirji remembers that when she moved to Canada, she thought the best way to fit in was to erase her ethnic identity. “I really thought that was what I had to do to become a Canadian, what I felt was the way to success,” she says.

“It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I came to the realization that I didn’t have to choose, that it was okay to say, Yes, I am a woman, Yes, I am an Indian, Yes, I was born in Tanzania, Yes, I am Muslim – because that’s what makes me unique.”

With a physician husband who is of Polish-Irish-American descent, Ms. Hirji says her 14-year old son and 12-year old daughter are being reared as citizens of the world.

“I always tell people who come to me for advice that instead of focusing on what you look like, look at who you are and make the most of it. Think not of limits, but of creating maximum value from yourself, and everything you do.”

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Other Winners in Category

STACEY ALLERTON FIRTH
Vice-president, human resources, Ford Motor Co. of Canada, Oakville, Ont.

SONIA BAXENDALE
Senior executive vice-president, CIBC retail markets & wealth management, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto

FRANCINE BLACKBURN
Executive vice-president & chief internal auditor, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto

SHERRI BRILLON
Executive vice-president, strategic planning & portfolio management, EnCana Corp., Calgary

SHAUNEEN BRUDER
Executive vice-president, business & commercial banking, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto

TERI CURRIE
Executive vice-president, human resources, Toronto-Dominon Bank, Toronto

GRETA R. CUSWORTH
Senior vice-president, international initiatives, Sun Life Financial, Toronto

LAURA DOTTORI-ATTANASIO
Senior vice-president, risk management, National Bank of Canada (former role), Montreal

LAUREN FLAHERTY
Chief marketing officer, Nortel Networks, Toronto

HEATHER GAVIN
Chief administrative officer and plan manager, OPSEU Pension Trust, Toronto

FRANÇOISE GUÉNETTE
Senior vice-president, corporate and legal services, and Secretary, ING Canada, Toronto

SANDRA HANINGTON
Executive vice-president, customer strategies & marketing, personal & commercial, Bank of Montreal, Toronto

WENDY HANNAM
Executive vice-president, domestic personal banking & distribution, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto

VICTORIA HUBBELL
Senior vice-president, strategy and stakeholder relations, Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan, Toronto

STEPHANI KINGSMILL
Senior vice-president and general manager, real estate, Manulife Financial, Toronto

CHRISTINA KRAMER
Executive vice-president, retail markets, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto

LOUISE LeBRUN
Senior vice-president, operations and administration, Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Montreal

BARBARA MASON
Executive vice-president, wealth management, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto

ROSEMARIE McCLEAN
Senior vice-president, member services, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Toronto

KIM McKENZIE
Executive vice-president, information technology & solutions, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto

KAREN METRAKOS
Executive vice-president, operations, BMO Financial Group, Toronto

WENDY MILLAR
Executive vice-president & chief risk officer, personal & commercial risk, BMO Financial Group, Toronto

JACQUELINE MOSS
Executive vice-president, human resources, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto

PATRICIA NESBITT
Senior vice-president, Canadian equities, GWL Investment Management Ltd., Great-West Life Assurance Co., Winnipeg

MONICA NORMINTON
Chief executive officer/president, Alberta Pensions Administration Corp., Edmonton

MAARIKA PAUL
Senior vice-president, real estate development & corporate responsibility (previously, senior vice-president, communications in 2007), Bell Canada, Montreal

TRACY REDIES
Executive vice-president, personal financial services and wealth management, HSBC Bank Canada, Vancouver

CAROL RING
President of cable, Greater Toronto Area, Rogers Communications, Toronto

HON. BELINDA STRONACH
Executive vice-chairman, Magna International, Aurora, Ont.

TAMARA VROOMAN
Chief Executive Officer, Vancity Credit Union, Vancouver

Reference: Globe and Mail