Jaime Gillespie

Chief Human Resources Officer, eCapital

Jaime is a seasoned professional with over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Her previous roles include customer service leadership, project and change management and, for the last 10 years, she has held numerous human resources roles, in addition to establishing her own leadership coaching and consultancy firm. She joined eCapital in 2018 as human resources manager and was promoted to chief human resources officer in 2021.

In her role, Jaime is responsible for managing the alignment of the company’s newly expanded workforce and cyclical human resources programs including engagement, performance and compensation. Jaime is a certified coach with the Gallup organization and has introduced a variety of strengths-based people practices to the organization to help identify and foster the diverse talents of our employees. As the voice of eCapital’s workforce, she encourages open, regular communication across the organization. Jaime works closely with executive leadership to ensure that every eCapital employee is empowered to use their talents to reach their goals, has the right tools to complete their tasks, and works in an environment that is optimized for best performance.

Jaime is a graduate of the Business Administration program from George Brown College and studied human resources at the University of Toronto. 

What advice would you offer to women just starting out inthe industry? 

It can be challenging for women to feel confident and secure in an industry traditionally dominated by men. Know your strengths, have a clear set of goals and don’t let intimidation impact your desired career path. It is important to approach your career as a journey on which you will learn, grow and develop your talents and expertise. Focus on what inspires you, approach each step in your career as an opportunity and build upon your experiences as you progress. 

How do you balance work/personal time?  

Work/life balance is so important. As you can imagine, this is a key area of focus for my team in promoting a healthy work environment at eCapital. We encourage practices such as scheduled breaks throughout the day and taking care of yourself, whether that’s taking a walk during lunch, joining the company’s guided meditative breathing break on Thursdays or socializing with co-workers during a team-building event. Personally, I find that planning ahead is extremely helpful. At the beginning of each week, I take the time to prioritize my tasks, personal and professional. What do I need to accomplish? What adjustments can I make if the list is too overwhelming? We all need to be easier on ourselves. Achieving balance is not easy, but if you focus on manageable tasks and set expectations, it is possible.

How can commercial finance organizations attract and retain more women?   

Attracting and recruiting more women to the secured finance industry is vitally important to promote diversity of thought and ensure our industry strives toward more equal representation. We need to reflect the diverse clientele our industry serves. At eCapital, more than half of our leadership roles are filled by women. This is a statistic we are extremely proud of. To encourage more women to join the industry, I believe it is important to actively promote women in financial leadership roles and to provide more opportunities for thought-leadership and collaboration, such as SFNet’s Women in Secured Finance events. The more organizations show that there are a multitude of opportunities for women in finance, the more women will feel encouraged to join us.

What do you think work will look like in the post-pandemic world? 

Now that remote work has been normalized, I think it will remain a viable option depending on an individual’s role and responsibilities. Some teams work best when in close proximity to each other, allowing them to feed off the energy and creativity of the group. For other roles, working from a home office connected to company networks and communication tools ensures productivity. There is no doubt that increased flexibility will become part of our post-pandemic work culture. To what degree remains to be seen. But if we can attribute any positives to the pandemic, it has taught us that we can adjust to what were unthinkable circumstances and has proven that our technology has evolved to the point where we have options when it comes to our approach to work.