Vancity announces Christine Bergeron as President and CEO

Monday, January 18, 2021, Unceded territories of Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations/Vancouver B.C. —Vancity’s board of directors has named Christine Bergeron as its next president and chief executive officer. Christine has served as Vancity’s Interim President and CEO since July 1, 2020 and has held senior leadership roles within the organization since 2013.

“The board of directors is proud to appoint Christine as Vancity’s President and CEO after a thorough search that attracted highly qualified candidates from across the country,” said Jan O’Brien, Chair of Vancity’s Board of Directors. “Having led the credit union successfully through one of the most challenging times in global history while delivering a renewed business plan, Christine has already proven she is the right leader with the vision and strategy to lead Vancity into the future.”

“With Christine’s in-depth understanding of Vancity’s business, our people and the communities we serve, the Board is very confident she will continue to deliver on Vancity’s triple bottom line mandate of financial strength, community resilience and environmental leadership,” said Jan.

Newly appointed CEO Christine Bergeron commented on the news: “Since joining Vancity in 2011, I feel very fortunate to have been part of the Vancity journey to deliver exceptional service and advice to our members, and to help create a future that is clean and fair for everyone. I’m incredibly excited to help drive our work to fulfill Vancity’s unique mission to further the financial, social and environmental well-being of our members and their communities.”

Before serving as interim president and CEO, Christine was Vancity’s Chief Member Services Officer, leading the Member Experience & Community Engagement division. In this role, Christine oversaw services to Vancity’s 543,000 members, including its branch network and retail, business, commercial and wealth management operations. She also led the credit union’s community impact and investment strategies. Christine has worked at Vancity for over nine years during which time she’s held several leadership roles including VP of Impact Investing, Wealth Management & Community Real Estate, and VP of Community Business Banking.

Prior to joining Vancity, much of Christine’s career involved working with entrepreneurs, financing innovative companies and building financial firms – all focused within the cleantech, sustainability and impact investing sectors. This included being a co-founder of Shoreline West Asset Management Inc. and being a founding team member at Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Christine was an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at UBC’s Sauder School of Business and is a board member of Aviso Wealth. She is also on the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative Banking Board as a representative for North America; she chairs the board of the Women’s Enterprise Centre and is on the Board of Governors for the BC Business Council. Christine holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Guelph and an MBA in Strategic Management from UBC’s Sauder School of Business.

Christine’s achievements in fostering community impact, social justice and environmental sustainability have earned her accolades from Clean50 in 2017, Women in Finance, which gave her the Rising Star award in 2012, and from Business in Vancouver magazine, which included her in its 2007 “Top 40 Under 40” list.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its more than 550,000 member-owners and their communities, with offices and 55 branches located in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay, within the territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw people. With $30.5 billion in assets plus assets under administration, Vancity is Canada’s largest community credit union. Vancity uses its assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

For more information, visit https://www.vancity.com/CreditCards/