CIBC Mellon announces plans to celebrate International Women's Week

TORONTO, March 5, 2012 /CNW/ - CIBC Mellon, Canada's leading provider of asset servicing for institutions and corporations, today announced plans to celebrate International Women's Week.

Each year in early March, International Women's Week and International Women's Day events are held throughout the world to inspire women and to celebrate their achievements, with the active support of companies like CIBC Mellon. To celebrate International Women's Week, CIBC Mellon and its Women's Initiatives Network (WIN) have developed a week-long program featuring events for employees and clients, including:

• A screening of an address by Deborah Gillis, senior vice president, membership & global operations at Catalyst, on the status of women in Canadian business. Founded in 1962, Catalyst is the leading non-profit membership organization expanding opportunities for women and business.
• An educational seminar on the characteristics of effective leaders.
• A luncheon featuring Colleen Sidford, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Ontario Power Generation, who will speak on "Driving Success through Diversity and Inclusion as well as Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures"
• A week-long fundraiser benefiting Newcomer Women's Services Toronto, a non-profit agency offering language skills, training, employment programs and settlement services to women who are new to Canada.

"At CIBC Mellon, women represent nearly 60 per cent of our employees and close to 30 per cent of management - including members of our executive team and our Boards of Directors," said Tom Monahan, president and chief executive officer, CIBC Mellon. "We are pleased to celebrate International Women's Week, and the valuable contributions of women at high-performing organizations."

"CIBC Mellon's Women's Initiatives Network was founded to promote diversity and inclusiveness in the workplace, foster employee development and help employees achieve the company's business objectives." said Helen Polatajko, senior vice president, chief information officer and chair of CIBC Mellon WIN. "We continue to dedicate ourselves to planning valuable events that are inclusive for the men and women of CIBC Mellon. We are excited about joining women around the world in marking International Women's Week."

To learn more about CIBC Mellon's corporate social responsibility efforts, visit www.cibcmellon.com/csr.

About International Women's Week

In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to proclaim a day for women's rights and international peace. Following the United Nations' lead, Canada chose March 8 as International Women's Day. Each year at this time, Canadians celebrate progress toward equality for women and their full participation, reflect on the challenges and barriers that remain, and consider future steps to achieving equality for all women, in all aspects of their lives. Over time, International Women's Day has grown into a week-long series of commemorative events and activities across the country. International Women's Week 2012 begins on Sunday, March 4 and wraps up on Saturday, March 10. For more information, visit Status of Women Canada's website at http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/iwd-jif/index-eng.html

About CIBC Mellon

CIBC Mellon provides asset servicing solutions for institutions and corporations, including custody, multicurrency accounting, fund administration, unitholder recordkeeping, pension services and securities lending. We have over 1,100 people dedicated to supporting more than 1,200 client relationships with Canadian banks, pension funds, investment funds, corporations, governments, insurance companies, foreign insurance trusts, foundations and foreign financial institutions whose clients invest in Canada. As of January 31, 2012, CIBC Mellon held more than CAD$1.1 trillion of assets under administration on behalf of our clients. CIBC Mellon is headquartered in Toronto, with offices across Canada in Vancouver, Calgary, London, Montreal and Halifax. Founded in 1996, CIBC Mellon is 50-50 jointly owned by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), the world's largest custodian. CIBC Mellon is part of the BNY Mellon network, which as of December 31, 2011 had USD$25.8 trillion in assets under custody and administration, USD$1.26 trillion in assets under management and global payments processed averaging $1.5 trillion per day.

For more information, visit www.cibcmellon.com or follow us on Twitter @CIBCMellon.