Montreal's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 32
MONTRÉAL’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2026)
32
Maples Group develops leaders at every level
J
esse Kirman knew his job
interview at Maples Group
had gone well when at the
end, the interviewer said,
“We’re going to be around
each other for a while, so we
should see each other’s faces,” as
they slid down their pandemic-era
face masks from a distance.
That was 2022. Since joining
Maples — a market leader for the
financial sector in fund, fiduciary,
regulatory and compliance, legal
services and entity formation
and management — Kirman has
had two upward title changes.
Today, as vice-president in fund
accounting, he is part of the team
responsible for calculating fund
valuations for institutional clients.
I’m fortunate because
my managers have
trusted my capabilities.
That has made it easy to
grow professionally and
showcase my work.
— Jesse Kirman
Vice-President,
Fund Accounting
“I’ve been given a lot of
opportunities within and just
outside the scope of my work. I’m
fortunate because my managers
have trusted my capabilities.
That has made it easy to grow
professionally and showcase
my work — not only within my
immediate team but sometimes
to those outside my department
and to more senior people,” says
Kirman.
Jesse Kirman, vice-president, fund accounting (left), and Dana Popa, senior vice-president, at Maples Group.
“Even when I started, I was
sitting next to someone who is
now the company’s co-CEO. I
think that’s pretty cool.”
The opportunities to stretch
have made a big impact on
Kirman, both professionally
and personally. “I’ve definitely
matured. When I came in, I had a
more junior mentality of knowing
how to do my tasks well but
not fully understanding how a
business is run. The projects I’ve
worked on gave me a wider scope
to see how my skills could be
applied in a bigger way,” he says.
Early on, Kirman learned from
his manager something he now
considers great advice. “When
you start, you never know what
a project is going to be like,
how long it will take, or how
complicated it will be. You also
won’t know how rewarding it will
be when you complete it, how
important the project will be to
the overall business, and how
much it will be appreciated.”
Dana Popa, senior vicepresident, felt respected and
appreciated from the start. She
joined Maples Group one year
after she and her family moved to
Canada from Romania. Despite
having more than 20 years of
experience in the field, Popa
wondered how her skills and
experience would translate to
North America.
“I felt comfortable immediately,”
she says. “During the recruitment
process, everyone was smiling
and helpful. They told me what
kind of transit to take to the office.
It may seem like a small detail,
but it made a big difference to
someone who was new to the city.
Once I joined, I was assigned a
‘buddy’ to field my questions. She
was an immigrant herself so she
could relate to my experience. I
