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ADVERTORIAL

You won’t know what you’re good

at or what you like unless you try

it for yourself.

While a simple statement, it’s one that has shaped Tina Capobianco’s Her professional development and willingness to try new positions
personal and professional lives. And it’s career advice she’d pass led to many promotions, and in 2005, she was promoted to run the
on to anyone, particularly women in traditionally male-dominated Canadian oper¬ation of the company.
industries.
“Nothing really prepared me for my position,” she says. “I think it was
“You have to know that if you fail, it’s OK, it’s not the end of the world. more I found my passion and then just went for it.”
Just try something else or go back to what you were doing,” Capobianco She’s even had the chance to combine that initial interest in teaching
says. “As long as you give it a chance and give it your all, that’s really all with all her experience from over the years – she’s the education chair
I ask of anybody.”
with a commercial finance association and teaches classes in finance,
Capobianco is the Senior Vice Presi¬dent at J D Factors, a factoring asset-based loans, underwriting, and operations.
company that purchases from businesses open accounts receivable for The opportunities she’s had for professional development have helped
cash that its clients can use right away. J D Factors, founded in 1989, her advance in her career, and she thinks recruiting internally is a great
has offices throughout Canada and the United States.
way for companies to attract more women.
In her position, Capobianco oversees all of the Canadian factoring When a company provides professional development for promotion
operations. This includes supervising account exec-utives and the opportunities for women who already work there, these employees will
management team, taking care of all clients, supporting business tell their friends and families. Word will get out about the opportunities
development, managing the building, and more. for advancement in the industry, ultimately encouraging other women
When entering the workforce, Capobianco didn’t see herself in a to apply.
position like this. She graduated from university in 1992 with a double “I’m spending a lot of time on professional development of the women
major in French and geography, planning to next attend teachers’ on my team, giving them opportunities to look at different areas of the
college. company,” Capobianco says. “I have a very open policy and say, ‘Any
At the time of her graduation, Canada was in a recession, and many job you want to try, you should try it to see if it’s something that you’d
of her classmates couldn’t find jobs. One of her friends worked at J D like.’”
Factors and said the company was looking for a bilingual receptionist.
While managing large transport clients in her late 20s and early 30s,
The position stood out to her because it was full-time work and had she says at times she wasn’t taken seriously by some companies,
paid benefits. She decided to apply, and she got the job. especially if her manager, who was a man, was with her.
Once she started working at J D Factors, she found she had a passion “Anyone new coming into a situation where it’s mostly male dominated,
for helping people and businesses. you need to say, ‘You know, I’m confident in what I know, and if I don’t
know, I’m going to ask the right questions,’” she says. “Once I learned
About 70 per cent of clients are trans¬port companies. She says the
need for factoring within the transport sector is greater than in other that I don’t know everything and it’s OK to ask, it was a game changer.”
industries since cash flow needs to be managed daily. J D Factors must She says now that she is further along in her career, she’s taken more
get transport companies money fast so they can secure their next load seriously than she was in the past, partly because she stuck to her own
and remain in business. advice that she now offers to women entering any industry:
She’s seen the growth businesses have achieved thanks to working with be confident in what you know and remember it’s OK to ask for help.
J D Factor, and references one transport company based in southern
Ontario that started with five trucks and has grown to a fleet of 300
trucks.
“The passion I still have is to help clients improve their cash flow, grow
their business, and make them successful,” Capobianco says. “If they’re
successful, then, in turn, we’re naturally successful.”
When she started at J D Factor, she didn’t have any training in finance.
While working for the company, she took finance courses and got her
credit designation.

32 Winter 2024 www.cambridgechamber.com