October 31, 2007

Vancity placed first in a ranking of corporate diversity, carried out by Corporate Knights magazine.

Mountain Equipment Co-op was the top retail organization in the survey.

The survey found 72 per cent of Vancity’s board of directors and top three executives were either female and/or members of a visible minority.  Royal Bank placed second on the list with 56 per cent in these categories. Mountain Equipment was the top retailer with 12 per cent.

The survey examined reports from 140 companies. Corporate Knights said it looked at companies in the S&P/TSX 60, the top 50 on the FP500 and/or ROB 1000, all the companies in the Jantzi Social Index, the top 25 holdings of the Ethical Canadian Index Fund, and additional companies with significant operations in the communications, chemical, utilities, retail, mining, oil and gas, finance and forestry sectors.

“An organization can function as they have for decades without changing,” Tamara Vrooman, CEO of Vancity, told the magazine. “But they never really reach their full potential if they don’t have that diverse focus.”

“If you ignore diversity nowadays, you don’t last,” said Doug Soo, a Vancity director. “It’s a natural part of the fabric of Canada at this juncture.”

In June the magazine reported that Vancity placed third on its list of Top 50 corporate citizens in Canada.