Alberta's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 58
58
SPONSOR CONTENT
ALBERTA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
Olympia challenges its people to go ‘beyond the boxes’
F
or Avneet Virdi, the
first few months on
the job at Olympia
Financial Group Inc.
were about jumping in
with both feet and rising to new
challenges. The company had just
made a major acquisition, and
her workload increased dramatically almost overnight. It was a
situation that most people would
dread, but Virdi describes it as her
lucky break.
“I was right in the thick of it,”
she recalls. “I was exposed to
complex and in-depth on the job
training from the very beginning.
I gained a lot of experience
from that.”
The experience paid off. Just
three years after joining the
company as an entry-level team
administrator, she is now the team
lead, administration – exempt
securities, heading up a team
of about eight employees. “It’s
challenging at times,” she says,
“but this is a place where I know
I can grow and develop. Just witnessing how much the company
has grown in the last three years
alone, I know there is so much
potential here.”
With common shares listed
on the Toronto Stock Exchange,
Olympia Financial Group operates
a group of companies from its
Calgary head office, including the
wholly-owned subsidiary Olympia
Trust Company, a non-deposit-taking trust specializing in the
administration of registered plans.
It’s a significant player in the
industry but it feels in many ways
like a much smaller firm, says
Tana Trowbridge, Olympia’s vice
president of securities.
“Olympia isn’t like some larger
institutions where there’s lots of
red tape, and in the end, you are
a number,” she says. “From our
CEO all the way down, everybody
knows everybody, and we all
support each other.”
Trowbridge began her career as
a 23-year-old entry-level employee
with very little financial experience. Fifteen years and half a
dozen roles later, she has become
a company vice president. “I can
confidently say I put a lot of hard
work into this,” she says.
If you have an idea, you
don’t have to go through 20
different leadership people
to talk about it. Your ideas
are valued.
— Tana Trowbridge
Vice President of Securities
IMAGE 1 GOES HERE!
remove this text box.
Olympia has raised over $1 million for those in need through the organization’s annual charity golf classic
tournament over the past 22 years.
“But I also had a lot of encouragement from my peers and from
an executive level, giving me
mentorship, pushing me to get
here. I am 100 per cent an example
of how this company grows its
employees.”
Trowbridge compares working
for Olympia to attending a free
business school – a place where
everyone can learn and innovate.
“You get to be collaborative on
various levels within the organization,” she says. “If you have an
idea, you don’t have to go through
20 different leadership people to
talk about it. Your ideas are valued.
Your experience, that’s all leveraged within the organization.”
Finding a place to grow a career
is just part of the appeal of working at Olympia, according to Virdi.
The company also finds ways to
maintain a family-like culture
by tapping into the celebrations
that typically bring families and
