Page 35 - January2019Spectrum_Neat

Erica Tennenbaum has never shied away from Tennenbaum’s proudest example of making change happen is her
helping others. work establishing RBC’s National Women’s Conference. Now an
annual event involving several of RBC’s business lines, the confer-
ence began as a two day financial literacy and networking event
A Vice-President, Associate Portfolio Manager & Wealth Advisor with a fashion show, managed by Tennenbaum herself.
for RBC Dominion Securities, she recently won the Volunteer of
the Year Award at the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community “At the time, women in finance were rare,” Tennenbaum notes.
Awards for the work she did co-chairing the Best Bites fundraiser “We wanted to change that, and it was amazing to see the confer-
to benefit the Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH).
ence spread awareness of the gender imbalance, and lead to bet-
ter attraction and retention of women. We have a great network to
The fundraiser, held in September at Shades Mills Conservation connect now that we didn’t have before.”
Area, brought together local chefs and breweries for a fabulous
garden party to raise money to help CMH purchase equipment for Today, the conference operates on a much larger scale and is run
its new surgical wing.
by an entire committee, of which Tennenbaum still participates.
“It was very nice to be recognized,” she said, seated comfortably Personally, she does what she can on a day-to-day basis to assist
behind the desk of her third-floor office on Shearson Crescent. other women in her industry. “That’s how I marketed myself,”
“But I’m very passionate about the community.”
she says. “We’re always looking at how we can hire more women
and attract more women to our business.” Thanks to her exten-
A Sarnia native, Tennenbaum earned an economics degree at the sive experience in the financial world, Tennenbaum has also be-
University of Guelph and a certificate of Human Resources at Con- come someone others can turn to when they need assistance. She
estoga College. She moved to Cambridge 24 years ago to begin her doesn’t see herself as a mentor, but rather a resource for her col-
career at a small Dominion Securities office, and this is when her leagues.
passion for community outreach and support really took shape.
Just a few months after starting she was asked to join the Preston “I’m always available whenever they are at a crossroad to help
Hespeler Rotary Club and has been a key member ever since.
them resolve some of the issues they may be facing,” she says. “I
believe when you stick to your values and your disciplines, your
“It feels like yesterday,” Tennenbaum says, reminiscing about those decisions are easier.”
early days when Dominion Securities was only a subsidiary of RBC.

As for having her own mentor, Tennenbaum credits her fellow Ro-
“It was very tough getting started,” she says. I took all the extra tarians for inspiring her to do great things. “There are so many
educational courses I possibly could -“Basically, I brought in coffee business leaders in our Rotary Club that are so dedicated and com-
and a muffin into the businesses and said, ‘I’m new to town and mitted to helping others,” she says.
this what I can do for you and if you ever need anything, let me
know,’ and that’s how I grew my business.”
Among the many Rotary Club projects that have resonated with
her was a trip to Africa several years ago to oversee the construc-
Tennenbaum describes her work as taking a very “all-encompass- tion of a much-needed school. Another was the club’s involvement
ing” approach to family wealth management that encompasses in the KidsAbility initiative which resulted in more than $50,000
both business and personal asset management, and succession being raised at a charity run.
or estate planning. She sees herself as her clients’ “quarterback,”
working with other professionals like accountants and lawyers to Tennenbaum’s commitment to community also extends to her
ensure their financial needs are met proactively.
personal life. In fact, several years ago she participated in three
42-kilometre marathons in Belgium, Germany and Hawaii and
“I’ve had such a great career,” Tennenbaum says, adding many of raised approximately $10,000 for the Arthritis Society. She is a
her clients have been with her since the beginning. She admits strong believer in setting goals and not let anything interfere with
it wasn’t always easy in those early days, especially since there obtaining them.
weren’t many women in her industry when she first started out.
However, she believes that being an ‘anomaly’ may have worked “Focus on what you’ve set out to do and give it 150% – and if it’s
in her favour.
not right, it’s not the end of the world,” she says, noting passion
and believing in yourself is the key to much success.
“I would never have any issues with clients because we were al-
ways planning and I think women are, in many aspects, more stra-
tegic and they think of all the planning pieces of the puzzle,” Ten-
nenbaum says. But she credits most of her success to the mantra
she lives by, both personally and professionally: “If you want to
see a change then don’t just talk about it; participate and try to
change it.”

www.cambridgechamber.com 35
Winter 2019