Catherine Wood of Qtrade Financial Group named a WXN 2016 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner

Qtrade top executive joins community of Canada's most iconic women leaders

VANCOUVER, Nov. 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Qtrade Financial Group is pleased to announce Catherine Wood, senior vice-president and head of online brokerage, insurance, product and marketing, has been named a Women's Executive Network (WXN) 2016 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner.

The Top 100 Awards celebrate the accomplishments of Canada's top female executive talent as well as their organizations and networks. Catherine's strategic vision, leadership and contribution to Qtrade's overall corporate performance have been recognized this year with a WXN Scotiabank Corporate Executives Award. She will be honoured during a gala celebration at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 24.

Since joining Qtrade Financial Group eight years ago, Catherine has held a number of senior positions. As a member of the organization's senior executive team, she has built an impressive track record delivering unique financial products and solutions to business partners and clients across Canada. Under her leadership, Qtrade Investor, the company's flagship offering, has grown significantly while maintaining its position among Canada's top online brokerages.

Catherine is also the driving force behind the company's latest venture, VirtualWealth^TM a robo-advice solution for Qtrade's partners and clients. The soon-to-launch online wealth management service will offer simplicity and convenience for digitally oriented, fee-sensitive investors.

Catherine promotes workforce diversity—including gender diversity—and dedicates time to advocate for financial literacy and for providing Canadians with meaningful financial advice.

"This recognition is well earned, and I congratulate Catherine on behalf of everyone at Qtrade," says Qtrade Financial Group CEO Bill Packham. "Catherine is a visionary leader who has driven growth for our business and our clients as well as for our partners and their members and clients. She has also strengthened Qtrade's culture by supporting employees and empowering people to take on new challenges and responsibilities."

The Top 100 Awards serve to recognize talented leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and to inspire the current and next generation to push the boundaries of what's possible.

"Women are not just leading companies, headlines and new deals, we're doing so in record numbers. In addition to closing the gender gap for participation in post-secondary education and the workforce, we're excelling at the top levels of every sector," says WXN Owner and CEO, Sherri Stevens. "When WXN created Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards, part of the purpose was celebration. By recognizing a community of now 939 remarkable women, we get the opportunity to look back and appreciate the hard work and hurdle-jumping it took to get here."

Catherine joins a prestigious community of past award winners, including Canada's most iconic women trailblazers: Margaret Atwood, best-selling author; Dr. Roberta Bondar, astronaut; Arlene Dickinson, chief executive officer, Venture Communications; Christine Magee, president, Sleep Country Canada; Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada; Heather Reisman, founder and chief executive officer, Indigo Books & Music; and, Kathleen Taylor, chair of the board, Royal Bank of Canada.

The full list of WXN's 2016 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners can be found at www.wxnetwork.com/top-100/top-100-winners/.

About Catherine Wood

Catherine Wood is the senior vice president and head of online brokerage, insurance, product and marketing at Qtrade Financial Group. As a member of the company's senior executive team, Catherine builds strategies and multi-disciplined, cross-functional teams that help to strengthen the Qtrade brand and bolster the financial health of the organization. She is a trustee for the Institute for Advanced Financial Education and is a past board member of the Financial Planning Standards Council. Catherine earned an MBA as well as a Masters of Information Studies from the University of Toronto. She holds an Honours BA from York University and a BA from Western University. She also completed the Institute of Corporate Directors program. Her professional designations include Certified Financial Planner (CFP); Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU); Tax and Estate Practitioner (TEP); and Certified Health Specialist (CHS).

About Qtrade Financial Group

Qtrade Financial Group is a national, award-winning, integrated financial services company, with over $13 billion in assets. Qtrade Financial Group provides online brokerage services to individual investors along with full-service brokerage, wealth and investment management platforms and services, custodial services, introducing broker services, and insurance solutions to meet the diverse needs of over 150 financial institutions, as well as their members and clients, across Canada. Qtrade's partners include credit unions, banks, trust companies, insurance companies, investment dealers, portfolio managers and financial planning firms. Qtrade Financial Group is backed by Desjardins Group, the leading cooperative financial group in Canada and the sixth largest cooperative financial group in the world. More information is available at www.qtrade.ca.

About the Women's Executive Network (WXN)

At WXN, we inspire smart women to lead. WXN delivers innovative networking, mentoring, professional and personal development to inform, inspire, connect and recognize our global community of more than 22,000 women, men and their organizations. WXN enables our partners and corporate members to become and to be recognized as employers of choice and leaders in the advancement of women.

Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada's leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is led by CEO Sherri Stevens, owner of the award-winning, multi-million dollar Workforce Management Company Stevens Resource Group Inc., which she established in 1990. In 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, followed by London, UK in 2015, creating an international community of female leaders.

More information and details are available at www.wxnetwork.com or www.top100women.ca.

SOURCE Qtrade Financial Group

Image with caption: "Catherine Wood (CNW Group/Qtrade Financial Group) (CNW Group/Qtrade Financial Group)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161123_C7159_PHOTO_EN_824799.jpg

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with Catherine Wood or WXN Owner and CEO Sherri Stevens, please contact: Sean Kelly, Senior Communications Specialist, Qtrade Financial Group 778.328.7583, [email protected]; Gabi Eliasoph, Harbinger Communications, 416.960.5100 ext. 287, [email protected]