Hyundai’s President, Don Romano, kicked off the morning with an eye opening and informative presentation on the automotive industry’s lack of diversity and inclusion within their executive teams, noting women play a leading role in 85% of auto purchases, but only represent 8% of executive teams within the industry. Showcasing Hyundai’s effort to address the disparity, Hyundai’s National Manager of Human Resources, Kirk Merrett spoke on Hyundai’s efforts in creating a culture of excellence that welcomes diversity, embraces change, and supports ongoing personal and professional development for both men and women. Hyundai’s efforts to transform their organization’s culture was recognized in 2018, ranking #35 on Canada’s Best Workplaces list and among one of the organizations named Best Workplaces for Women in 2019. Congratulations, Hyundai!

Following Don and Kirk’s presentations, CSPN welcomed women leaders from organizations across a number of industries such as banking, insurance, automotive, public sector, and many other verticals to participate in a panel discussion. The panel focused on how to define the right culture for your organization, consistently delivering great employee experiences, successfully implementing change, and much more. The discussion gave great insights and perspectives on what strategies are effective, how to manage culture change, and what resources to allocate for.

The Rapid Round tables were a hit, giving participants the opportunity to discuss relevant and engaging topics on diversity and inclusion, and the positive impacts it would have on their business. The insights were shared with the broader group, and many themes emerged, including the importance and growing need for top-down support from leadership, empowerment to creatively solve problems and how to expand and create personal opportunities to evolve professional development. These sessions always drive powerful conversation and create an inclusive environment to learn from others.

This event also aimed to support the national charity, True Patriot Love, that supports military families, funds community-based programs, and contributes to the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, by welcoming donations of any size. Thanks to everyone’s support, we were able to raise over $200 towards the cause.

CSPN thanks all of the women and men that were able to join us for this inspiring event and those who contributed to the True Patriot Love charity. Thank you to our partner, Hyundai, and sponsor, Genesys. And, thank you to all women that participated in the panel and gave their insights and expertise.

Our 1st Women in Leadership Breakfast Meeting was a truly inspiring and empowering event and brought together a diverse and insightful group of individuals all committed to pushing the boundaries and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

CSPN has many more exciting events coming up, including our 22nd Annual CX/EX Conference. We hope to see you there!

To see photos from the Breakfast Meeting, click here.

Good ideas that we can take away and try to implement. These are tried and trusted by the experts so it gives me confidence in trying them.

It was wonderful to hear from other women within different organizations on their success and challenges!

Today’s breakfast meeting was really empowering. Great information—thank you.”

Excellent panel discussion! Very informative. A lot of takeaways that I can use in our organization.