Top 50 Best Female Mortgage Brokers and Professionals in Canada 

 

Meet the brokers, lenders, and executives named to
CMP’s 2026 Women of Influence list

 

By Canadian Mortgage Professional  ■  August 2026

Key takeaways CMP Top 50 Women of Influence 2026
Key finding What the data show
Sponsorship, not mentorship, is what actually advances women's careers
Judges found sponsorship language outweighed by mentorship language roughly 2 to 1 in nominations, even though the strongest, highest-scoring submissions were sponsorship in action
This year's honourees build institutions, not just close deals
98% lead structured mentorship, 40% founded or personally run a philanthropic initiative, and 34% hold an industry board or association seat
Recognition is tracking sustained leadership, not one good year
36% of this year's Top 50 (18 of 50) also won CMP's Top 50 Women of Influence in 2025, verified by name against last year's published list
The list spans the full mortgage ecosystem, not just brokers
72% of honourees work the broker channel, while 28% lead from the lender, insurer, or technology-platform side
The 4% CEO statistic isn't about a lack of talent
Judges and winners independently pointed to the same barrier: informal, closed-door networks historically favouring men, concentrated at the executive and lender-leadership level, not at entry
The renewal wave is this year's defining industry pressure
Roughly 60% of Canadian mortgages (about 1.2 million loans) are renewing through 2026, with 5-year fixed borrowers facing average payment increases near 20%
The industry isn't yet built for its next major client base
Canadian women are projected to control nearly $4 trillion in assets by 2028, but judges say the client-facing model still targets a different default customer
Entrepreneurship and governance often overlap in this cohort
12% of winners both founded their own business and hold a formal industry board or association seat

 

 

How Canada’s mortgage renewal wave is testing this year’s Women of Influence


Canadian Mortgage Professional’s Top 50 Women of Influence 2026 names the 50 best female mortgage brokers and professionals in Canada, recognizing the brokers, lenders, and industry executives driving change across the country’s mortgage industry.

Nearly 60 percent of Canadian mortgages, about 1.2 million loans, are renewing through 2026, and five-year fixed borrowers face an average payment increase near 20 percent, according to the Bank of Canada’s analysis of mortgage payment changes at renewal.

Guiding anxious households through that shift has become the defining test for this year’s Canadian Mortgage Professional Top 50 Women of Influence. See CMP’s coverage of why the 2026 renewal wave may not be the crisis once feared.

Eighteen of this year’s 50 honourees, 36 percent of the list, also won CMP’s Top 50 Women of Influence list from 2025, a sign that this recognition is tracking sustained leadership rather than a single strong year.

Why sponsorship, not mentorship, defines this year’s strongest cases


Judges and winners alike pointed to the same tension when asked what advances women’s careers in the mortgage industry. Mentorship remains the default vocabulary, but sponsorship, opening doors, sharing networks, and putting your name behind someone in rooms they aren’t in, is what the strongest cases in this year’s cohort demonstrated.

That distinction matters now more than ever. Canadian women are projected to control nearly $4 trillion in assets by 2028, according to CIBC Capital Markets, yet women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage, according to a 2026 CMP roundtable of Canadian mortgage finance leaders. This year’s Top 50 are already building the infrastructure to close that gap.

Top 50 Women of Influence 2026

Canadian Mortgage Professional – winner cohort data visualizations

What a Woman of Influence looks like: theme prevalence across the 2026 cohort

72%
represent the broker channel (independent brokerages and broker networks); the remaining 28% are lender, insurer, or platform-side leaders
12%
both founded their own business and hold a formal industry board or association seat
36%
of this year's Top 50 (18 of 50) also won CMP's Top 50 Women of Influence in 2025, verified against last year's published winner list
n = 50. Each nomination narrative was reviewed and tagged for the presence of five recurring themes (not mutually exclusive). Hover a bar for an anonymized composite example. Based on submitted nomination content, not independently verified. Channel split classifies each winner's employer as broker-side (independent brokerage or broker network), lender/institutional (bank, monoline lender, or mortgage insurer), or technology platform. The repeat-honouree figure (18 of 50) is verified by name against CMP's published 2025 Top 50 Women of Influence list.

 

 

What sets apart the best female mortgage brokers and professionals in Canada


This year’s judging panel, made up of five industry leaders, including past honourees Dalia Barsoum and Sofia Hondrogiannis, saw a cohort operating in one of the toughest markets in years, and responding with unusual precision.

“The defining quality was verifiable, in-year impact rather than reputation,” says Barsoum, founder and principal broker at Streetwise Mortgages and Streetwise Wealth in Toronto. “The submissions that rose to the top were dense with specifics, named awards, funded volumes, and growth percentages.”

Barsoum points to two shifts beneath the surface. Commercial and specialized lending expertise, debt advisory, apartment and multifamily financing, and credit operations, is far more visible in this year’s cohort than a straight-broker list would suggest.

And the standout performances weren’t always about volume alone. One solo commercial originator this year funded more than $160 million across roughly 60 transactions and won Commercial Broker of the Year, while a company president led her firm to a $2-billion funding milestone, the kind of submission Barsoum says reflects a shift in what leadership looks like on this list. It’s no longer just top producers. This year’s honourees run brokerages, chair industry awards bodies, and co-chair conferences drawing more than 1,500 attendees.

Sofia Hondrogiannis, associate vice president of national distribution for broker services at TD Bank Group (TD) in Toronto, frames the cohort differently. She explains that what stood out most this year was the combination of resilience and adaptability.

“This cohort is operating in one of the most complex market environments we’ve seen in decades, yet they’ve continued to grow their businesses, support clients through uncertainty, and make meaningful contributions to their communities,” she says. “The top performers are those who can simplify complexity for their clients, translating rate movements, affordability challenges, and product structures into actionable advice. That advisory skill set has become a true differentiator.”

Top 50 Women of Influence 2026

Canadian Mortgage Professional – winner cohort data visualizations

Winners by job title / seniority tier

n = 50. Titles grouped into seniority tiers based on the role listed in each winner's nomination submission.

 

 

Why women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage


The four percent figure cited throughout this report isn’t isolated to mortgage. A 2025 Morningstar DBRS report on gender diversity across Canadian financial institutions, real estate, and diversified industries found a similar pattern at the top of the corporate ladder, detailed later in this report.

At financial institutions specifically, the same board-to-CEO drop-off shows up in the data. Set against that backdrop, mortgage’s four percent CEO rate isn’t an industry anomaly. It’s a steeper version of the same drop-off, the same board-to-CFO-to-CEO pattern playing out at roughly three times the severity once it reaches mortgage’s own C-suite.

The pipeline paradox: where women in Canadian finance thin out

Board seats, CFO, and CEO (financial institutions) figures: Morningstar DBRS, 2025 report on Canadian financial institutions, real estate, and diversified industries (2023 data). CEO (Canadian mortgage) figure is the widely cited industry statistic referenced independently by this report's judging panel and multiple featured winners. The comparison illustrates that mortgage's CEO gender gap is a steeper version of a pattern across Canadian finance broadly, not an industry-specific anomaly.

 

 

That advisory instinct shows up across the data. Nearly all (98 percent) of this year’s winners lead structured mentorship, while 40 percent have founded or personally run a philanthropic initiative. Seventy-two percent work the broker side of the industry, with the remaining 28 percent leading from the lender, insurer, or platform side, underscoring that this list now spans the full channel rather than one segment of it.

Geographically, the 50 honourees stretch across seven provinces, though Ontario, home to 30 of this year’s winners, remains the industry’s centre of gravity.


Top 50 Women of Influence 2026

Canadian Mortgage Professional – winner cohort data visualizations

Winners by province

n = 50. Based on the location listed in each winner's nomination submission.

 

 

What the $4-trillion wealth shift means for mortgage brokers and leaders


The $4-trillion question looming over the next two years is not abstract for this year’s Top 50. According to CIBC Capital Markets, Canadian women are set to control nearly $4 trillion in assets by 2028, up from $2.2 trillion today, a shift Barsoum calls a service-design problem, not just a marketing one.

Canadian women's wealth control, 2019 vs projected 2028

Source: CIBC Capital Markets, "The Changing Landscape of Women's Wealth," Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge (March 2019). The $2.2-trillion figure represents financial assets controlled by single, divorced, widowed, and financial-decision-making married women as of 2019 (about 30% of Canada's total financial wealth at the time). The $3.8-trillion figure is CIBC's projection for 2028, representing just over one-third of total Canadian financial assets. Neither figure includes real estate.

 

 

Several of this year’s honourees are already building toward it, running divorce-focused advisory platforms, hosting women’s wealth summits drawing more than 650 attendees, and creating first-time-buyer programs for underserved communities.

How the mortgage renewal wave will keep testing brokers through 2027


The renewal wave will keep testing the industry through 2026 and into 2027, with roughly a third of all Canadian mortgage holders still facing payment increases by the end of the period, according to the Bank of Canada.

The Bank’s data also shows that mortgage holders renewing in 2025 saw average payments rise 10 percent compared with December 2024 levels, easing to a six percent average increase for 2026 renewals as more borrowers roll into lower rates. Five-year fixed borrowers, who make up the largest share of this wave, face a steeper average increase of 15 percent to 20 percent in both years.

Mortgage payment changes at renewal, 2025 vs 2026

Source: Bank of Canada, "How will mortgage payments change at renewal? An updated analysis," staff analytical note 2025-21 (July 2025), and Bank of Canada staff analytical note 2025-1 (January 2025). Figures show the average change in monthly mortgage payment compared with December 2024 levels for mortgages renewing that year. Five-year fixed-rate borrowers make up the largest share of renewals in both years.

 

TD Economics expects the back half of 2026 to mark a turning point, with payment declines becoming the dominant outcome for the first time since the renewal wave began. Hondrogiannis expects the brokers and lenders who lead the next 24 months to be the ones already treating financial literacy and succession planning as core business functions rather than side initiatives.

Both judges point to the same conclusion. Recognition is running ahead of the industry’s product and advice model, and the leaders positioned to close that gap are those already building the infrastructure for it today.

Leading change where gender parity lags in Canada’s mortgage industry


The Women of Influence are making their mark at a time when progress on gender equity has slowed across Canada’s corporate world, including within mortgage and financial services. With nearly a third of this year’s honourees having founded or personally run their own business, that slowdown is especially relevant.

Why women-owned businesses remain Canada’s biggest missed opportunity


According to the Business Data Lab’s (BDL) March 2025 report, Women Entrepreneurs: Canada’s Biggest Missed Business Opportunity, women-owned businesses account for roughly 18 percent of all Canadian enterprises as of 2024, well short of the federal Women Entrepreneurship Strategy’s goal to double that share by 2025.

BDL estimates that closing this gap, an estimated 710,000 “missing” women entrepreneurs, could have added six percent to Canada’s GDP over the past seven to eight years, or roughly $150 billion to $180 billion in unrealized output.

The gap is most pronounced in Ontario and Quebec, home to nearly two-thirds of Canada’s missing women-owned businesses, and highest in the Prairies, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.

Canada's women-owned business gap and the GDP opportunity it represents

Women-owned businesses vs. federal target

What closing the gap could mean

710,000
estimated "missing" women entrepreneurs in Canada, 2025
$150B+
in foregone GDP over the past 7–8 years from this gap
Source: Business Data Lab, "Women Entrepreneurs: Canada's Biggest Missed Business Opportunity" (March 2025), pages 8 and 12–13. The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), announced in Budget 2018, aimed to double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025 relative to the 2005 baseline of 170,620 firms. As of 2024, majority women-owned businesses stood at 195,713, roughly 145,000 short of the 341,240 target, and represented 18% of all Canadian enterprises.

 

 

How Canada’s C-suite gender gap compares to mortgage’s four percent


A 2025 Morningstar DBRS report, focused on financial institutions, real estate, and diversified industries, found that women held just six percent of C-suite jobs nationwide in 2023, down from seven percent in 2020 and unchanged over the past decade.

At financial institutions, women made up 13 percent of CEOs and 33 percent of CFOs. Board gains, where women now hold 41 percent of seats, haven’t carried through to the top ranks.

LinkedIn's 2025 State of Women in Leadership report also found that progress toward gender parity in leadership has stalled in recent years. Only 30.6 percent of leadership positions are held by women, representing a 0.2 percent increase since 2022. What’s more, the data shows the leadership gap grows with age. Among baby boomer women, the drop from workforce participation to top roles is 46 percent. For Gen Z women, it’s 34 percent.

A separate 2025 Doane Grant Thornton report puts a sharper point on the pace of change. At the current rate of progress, a young woman starting her career today would work for more than a quarter of a century before she could expect to reach a small or mid-sized business with gender parity in top roles. The same report found 6.8 percent of Canadian businesses currently have no women in senior management at all, and a further 12.1 percent have only one.

How this year’s top female mortgage brokers are outpacing national trends


These national trends contrast with the advances made by this year’s influential Top 50. In financial and business services, including mortgages, women now hold more than half of specialized middle management roles, according to the Canadian Chamber’s earlier Barely Breaking Ground (2024) report on gender parity in business.

Yet pay gaps remain, with women earning 85 cents for every dollar earned by men. Senior leadership remains male-dominated, with women holding just 30 percent of senior management positions nationwide.

Other findings from Barely Breaking Ground still stand, absent fresher data.


In this environment, the female leaders featured on CMP’s list are helping to move the needle forward and create greater opportunity for others.

Hondrogiannis says progress depends on organizations being deliberate about who they identify and how early.

“Organizations are being more deliberate about identifying high-potential women earlier, creating pathways into leadership roles, and ensuring diverse voices are present in succession planning discussions,” she says.

That structural work, building the pathway before someone is ready to walk it, is echoed throughout this year’s cohort, from formal mentorship masterminds to the governance seats several winners have taken on to make sure succession decisions happen with women in the room.

Top 50 Woman of Influence 2026:
Leanne Conroy

Regional director of sales, MCAN Financial, Toronto, ON

 

Why this MCAN Financial leader says sponsorship moves careers faster
than mentorship


Leanne Conroy carries influence in two directions at once. As regional director of sales at MCAN Financial, she’s a consistent top producer and an internal mentor to women building their careers at the firm. Beyond the organization, she’s become a recognizable presence on the industry speaking circuit, sought out as a host and presenter at women’s advocacy events across the country.

Hosting the industry’s biggest platform for women’s leadership


Conroy's public-facing work reached a clear marker in 2025 when she hosted the Women’s Summit, one of the mortgage industry’s dedicated forums for women’s leadership and professional development. The role of host is often underestimated. It requires command of the room, credibility with the audience, and the ability to draw out the event’s value rather than occupy its centre. That Conroy is consistently sought for it says something about how the industry reads her.

Building community through presence, not platform


Conroy holds membership in Women in the Mortgage Industry and volunteers her time teaching yoga to mortgage professionals, a detail that sits slightly apart from the rest of her profile but points to something consistent in her approach, namely, access and community built through presence rather than platform.

Turning her own mentorship gap into an advocacy mission


Conroy’s advocacy within MCAN is less visible by nature. Mentoring colleagues inside an organization rarely produces a citation or an award. What it produces is the next person in the room who feels capable of staying there, something Conroy knows firsthand. She went 25 years without a real mentor of her own before one specific sponsor changed the trajectory of her career, and her own path didn’t accelerate until her mid-40s, following a decade raising her children.

Q&A with Leanne Conroy

MCAN Financial, Toronto, ON

 

In the past 12 months, have you done more mentoring or sponsoring, and which moves the needle more?


I think it’s really sponsorship that changes a career. Mentorship is so important, but it doesn’t necessarily advocate for somebody when an opportunity arises. I really lacked mentorship for the last 25 years. It wasn’t until I had a specific person in my life who was my sponsor that things changed, though I also grew a lot myself along the way.

What’s something you saw missing in this industry that nobody else seemed
bothered by


This industry doesn’t have a shortage of talented women. It lacks enough people actively opening doors for them, and it lacks women putting their hand up and getting into an uncomfortable space. So many achievements happen quietly. Women are driving growth, leading teams, and chairing boards, but they’re not positioned as industry leaders the same way our male counterparts are. I don’t think it’s intended. I think it’s just a blind spot.

Women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s blocking the pipeline?


Men have historically benefited more from informal networks to accelerate leadership opportunities, whereas women have to demonstrate that we’re ready repeatedly throughout a 20-year span before we’re viewed as leadership material. My own career didn’t really accelerate until my mid-40s, and I had about a 10-year hiatus when I had my kids. We’re expected to lead like the previous person when we all bring very different perspectives.

What’s the most practical thing you’d tell a woman who can’t get the room to take her seriously?


Stop waiting for recognition. If you’re waiting for someone to say, ‘Good job, you deserve a promotion,’ you have to stop waiting. Always speak up, because nobody’s just going to say you deserve a raise. You have to keep asking for what you want.

Leanne Conroy
“Create the evidence, quantify your impact, and communicate it constantly. Be your own sponsor”
Leanne ConroyMCAN Financial

 

Top 50 Woman of Influence 2026:
Corinne Schindler

CEO/founder, Powerhaus Mortgage Experts,
Vancouver, BC

 

How sharing her network became the growth engine behind Powerhaus Mortgage Experts


Corinne Schindler started over at the stage most people start wrapping up. After four decades in Canadian banking, including more than 10 years ranking among the top one percent of mortgage providers in the country, a first for a woman at the time, she walked away from institutional employment and founded Powerhaus Mortgage Experts in Vancouver.

Within her first seven months, she’d funded more than $120 million in mortgages, and she now ranks within the top two percent of Dominion Lending Centres’ network of more than 9,000 agents. The numbers matter, but they aren’t the point. The point is that she built them from scratch, in a new business model, later in her career than almost anyone attempts it.

From bank branch manager to brokerage founder


Schindler's career began in 1985 in a financial industry that required women to be demonstrably better than their male peers just to advance. She advanced anyway, managing her first bank branch at 28 while raising two children as a single mother, eventually overseeing five branches and moving into head office roles across HR and sales strategy.

Those HR years weren’t administrative. Schindler adapted safety protocols for hearing-impaired employees in call centres and represented staff in Human Rights Tribunal matters, work that put inclusion into practice before the industry had developed much language for it.

An open market model built on decades of banking experience


The thesis behind Powerhaus draws directly on that institutional depth. Long-tenured bankers carry knowledge and client relationships the brokerage world rarely captures, and Schindler built a firm designed to channel that experience into an open-market model, giving clients access to more than 100 lenders rather than a single institution’s product shelf. Through The Haus Society, she’s extending that logic further, bringing experienced professionals together to raise standards and mentor the next generation of mortgage advisers. Her team at Powerhaus now operates across nine languages, and she’s not finished hiring.

Giving back through community and mental health advocacy


Her community commitments through this same period include board service with the Richmond Food Bank, support for Covenant House and BC Children’s Hospital, and a seat on the Coast Mental Health Courage to Come Back Awards panel, where she helped select the 2026 recipients, a role that requires real judgment about people navigating serious difficulty.

For Schindler, sponsorship and networking are the same act. “I mentor people, and how I do it is through sharing my network,” she says. “Making the right introduction at the right time means everything.”
 

Corinne Schindler
“The thing that has moved the needle most in the last 12 months and, honestly, throughout my career, isn’t a label. It’s the action of sharing my network freely, consistently, and without hesitation”
Corinne SchindlerPowerhaus Mortgage Experts

 

Q&A with Corinne Schindler

Powerhaus Mortgage Experts, Vancouver, BC

 

You’ve said sponsorship and mentorship aren’t separate things for you. Why?


My definition of sponsorship is really just networking. I mentor people, and how I do it is through sharing my network. Making the right introduction at the right time means everything, putting them in rooms they weren’t able to be in before. That changed their trajectory.

What did you see missing in this industry that finally became your problem to solve?


My philosophy is that we’re our own greatest challenge. Throughout my years in banking, I was told I couldn’t have certain roles because I was a mother, that I couldn’t transfer because I had a child to bring with me. I never once saw it as a crutch. I was fortunate to be able to see things differently.

Women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s blocking the pipeline?


A lot of it has to do with balancing work and family. There’s no way a mother working eight or 10 hours a day, who’s also managing the household, is going to spend eight hours on a golf course. Our networking opportunity has gone, but the advantage for women is we’re very direct and succinct. We know what we want to achieve and we get it done in less time.

What’s the most practical thing you’d tell a woman who can’t get the room to take her seriously?


Bring up the elephant in the room. Be transparent. You’re not looking for pity, you’re saying, ‘You may think I’m new to this, but actually I’m not, I’ve got something to say.’ Address it right away, then talk about where your value is. Don’t try to win people over with fluff. Men like direct, and that gets you their attention.

Top 50 Woman of Influence 2026: Jamie Doolittle

Head, BMO BrokerEdge, Toronto, ON

 

Inside BMO BrokerEdge’s approach to mentoring founders before they pitch


Jamie Doolittle works where institutional lending strategy meets the unglamorous early work of building other people’s businesses from scratch.

As head of BMO BrokerEdge, the mortgage broker channel of Bank of Montreal (BMO), she leads its strategic direction, driving lending partnerships and solutions across the network, building on how BMO’s trailblazers built the BrokerEdge channel. That executive role is only half the picture.

Mentoring entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of business formation


Over the past 12 months, Doolittle has moved through the entrepreneurship ecosystem in a way that has little to do with brand visibility and everything to do with proximity to the problem. She has mentored and facilitated workshops through the Humber College Longo Centre for Entrepreneurship, NextAI, and IDEA Mississauga, three programs working at the earliest, most precarious stage of business formation, and served as a judge for the BMO Launch Me Women’s Pitch Competition.

Expanding financial literacy access for women in business


Doolittle's advocacy for women in business runs through BMO’s own infrastructure as well. She co-led a financial forecasting webinar through the BMO for Women initiative and has spoken at events including Her Network’s “That’s Her” gathering and a Women in Franchising webinar, each a different entry point into financial literacy for women at different career stages. She’s also served as a panelist at the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Conference, bringing a lender’s perspective into rooms where access to capital is often the central cause of anxiety.

Institutional recognition paired with grassroots impact


Recognized by Women’s Executive Network Canada as a Most Powerful Women Top 100 Emerging Leader and serving on the board of directors of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Doolittle carries institutional weight. What distinguishes her is where she chooses to spend it.

Jamie Doolittle
“Sometimes you have to act with confidence before you fully feel it. Over time, that confidence grows as you continue to contribute, speak up, and demonstrate your value”
Jamie DoolittleBMO BrokerEdge

 

Q&A with Jamie Doolittle

Head, BMO BrokerEdge, Toronto, ON

 

In the past 12 months, have you done more mentoring or sponsoring, and which moves the needle more?


I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have both exceptional mentors and sponsors, and each has played an important role in my growth. Both matter. Having someone mention your name in a room of decision-makers, advocate for you when opportunities arise, and ensure credit is given where it’s due can be invaluable to building a career.  

That’s why I find myself prioritizing sponsorship more these days. It creates visibility, opens doors, and helps talented people access opportunities they may not have reached on their own. It’s also incredibly rewarding to see someone step into those opportunities and thrive. 

Women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s blocking the pipeline?


Women have long understood that career progression is influenced by far more than life milestones or family responsibilities. At its core, it comes down to access, who gets a seat at the table, who is included in key conversations, and which leadership styles organizations choose to value and reward.  

Representation also matters. Women need to see people like themselves in leadership roles to believe those opportunities are attainable. That’s why mentorship and sponsorship are so important. And creating more women leaders isn’t the responsibility of women alone, it requires leaders of all backgrounds to actively champion and develop emerging talent. 

What’s the most practical thing you’d tell a woman who can’t get the room to take her seriously?


First, I’d validate her experience. Many women have faced situations where they feel their contributions are being overlooked or undervalued. Then I’d encourage her to take up space with confidence and conviction. Be intentional about removing language that diminishes your expertise or softens your point of view unnecessarily. Confidence can feel uncomfortable before it feels natural, and that’s okay. Sometimes you have to act with confidence before you fully feel it. Over time, that confidence grows as you continue to contribute, speak up, and demonstrate your value.

Top 50 Woman of Influence 2026: Paula Oliveira

Regional vice president Ontario and Atlantic,
BMO BrokerEdge, Toronto, ON

 

How this mortgage leader balances national growth with talent development


Paula Oliveira built BMO BrokerEdge’s residential mortgage lending channel from the ground up. When BMO entered the broker space in early 2024, she was the one who stood it up, assembling and leading the national team that would define how the bank showed up for broker partners across the country.

Leading national expansion while managing a leadership transition


More than a year on, that channel has expanded into Western Canada, and Oliveira has been central to that growth while simultaneously managing the transition to incoming leadership at the head of the division, the kind of operational steadiness that rarely makes headlines and seldom goes unrecognized by the people who depend on it.

A 20-year career built on spotting untapped talent


Her 20-year BMO career spans retail banking, broker strategy, and talent development, and it’s the talent dimension that most clearly defines her leadership philosophy. She’s consistently been identified as someone who spots capability before it announces itself, then does something about it.

Community recognition across Toronto’s civic and cultural organizations


That instinct extends well beyond the organization. Oliveira is an active presence in CMP Women in Mortgages and has dedicated sustained time to community organizations supporting newcomers, families, and women facing violence in Toronto.

The city has taken notice, awarding her a Business Excellence Award from the Federation of Portuguese Canadian Business and Professionals, a Community Leadership and Support Award from her city councillor, and a Community Engagement Recognition from the Mayor of Toronto. Inside the bank, she’s been an active, consistent participant across the BMO Latino Alliance, BMO Pride, and BMO for Women employee resource groups throughout her career.
 

Paula Oliveira
“Four percent is not a talent problem. It’s a conversion problem”
Paula OliveiraBMO BrokerEdge

 

Q&A with Paula Oliveira 

Regional vice president Ontario and Atlantic,
BMO BrokerEdge, Toronto, ON

 

In the past 12 months, have you done more mentoring or sponsoring, and which moves the needle more?


I’ve done both mentoring and sponsoring over the past year, but I find sponsorship moves the needle most. Mentorship gives people advice, sponsorship gives them access. When we were building BrokerEdge, the most significant talent moments weren’t the coaching conversations.  

They were the moments when someone was trusted with something real, a challenging relationship, a complex market issue, or a seat at the table with senior partners. You could see the shift. Once someone was given ownership of something measurable, others saw them differently and, perhaps more importantly, they saw themselves differently.  

To me, that’s sponsorship. It’s not just encouragement or advocacy. It’s extending trust before everyone else in the room is fully comfortable doing so. 

What’s something you saw missing in this industry that nobody else seemed bothered by, and what finally made you decide it was your problem to solve?


What I saw missing was a clear path from high performer to decision-maker. In this industry, we’re very good at celebrating production. We’re often less deliberate about developing the skills that prepare people for leadership, P&L accountability, risk judgment, pricing discipline, making difficult decisions, and building visibility with senior leaders.  

I am determined not to create a “figure it out” culture. I want to build structure, clear onboarding, defined expectations, regular coaching, a strong risk lens, and meaningful ownership. Not because process is glamorous, but because informal systems often favour those who are already closest to opportunity.  

If we’re not intentional about creating pathways to leadership, talented people can remain highly valued contributors without gaining the experience, visibility, and authority needed to advance. 

Women hold just four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s blocking the pipeline?


Four percent is not a talent problem. It’s a conversion problem. Women are in the industry and in management roles, but too few are given the opportunities that typically develop future CEOs, P&L accountability, risk oversight, strategy, revenue ownership, and high-stakes decision-making. We also use the word “ready” too loosely.  

I’ve seen people become ready very quickly when they’re given a business to lead, a market to grow, or a meaningful decision to own. The industry is becoming more honest about the challenge, but we still need to talk more openly about sponsorship, stretch opportunities, and access to decision-making. Leadership isn’t built on confidence alone, it’s built on experience, responsibility, and trust. 

What’s the most practical thing you’d tell a woman who can’t get the room to take her seriously?


I would tell her, stop trying to be taken seriously in general. Be taken seriously specifically. Identify the two or three metrics that matter most in your role and know them inside and out. Then ask for a visible challenge, "Give me this segment, this broker relationship, or this conversion issue. Here’s the outcome I’ll deliver, and here’s how I’ll measure progress."  

Also, don’t wait until the meeting to build influence. Relationships and credibility are often built before the conversation starts. And find a sponsor, not just a mentor. Ask directly, “What proof would you need to confidently recommend me when opportunities are discussed?” Credibility isn’t built by hoping people notice your work.  

It’s built by consistently delivering results, taking ownership of meaningful challenges, and ensuring the right people are aware of your impact.

Two industry judges on sponsorship, succession, and the path to the C-suite

 

Dalia Barsoum

Founder and principal broker, Streetwise Mortgages and Streetwise Wealth, Toronto


Dalia Barsoum is founder and principal broker of Streetwise Mortgages, a multi-award-winning brokerage specializing in income property financing, and founder of Streetwise Wealth, a boutique real estate wealth advisory firm. With more than 20 years of experience spanning banking, lending, and wealth management strategy, she’s the best-selling author of Canadian Real Estate Investor Financing (7 Secrets to Getting All the Money You Want) and a member of the Forbes Finance Council. She previously earned a spot on CMP’s own Top 50 Women of Influence list.

Dalia Barsoum on why sponsorship outperforms mentorship

 

Many argue that sponsorship, actively advocating for women in closed-door decisions, moves the needle more than mentorship. Did you see evidence of that shift in this year’s cohort?


I’d say the shift is visible but not yet dominant. When I looked across the shortlist, mentorship and coaching language still outnumbered concrete sponsorship roughly two to one, mentorship remains the default vocabulary.

But the strongest diversity cases were, in fact, sponsorship, not mentorship, examples like ensuring more than a third of conference panelists were women and securing a named female keynote, actively recommending and supporting the hiring of women into new roles, creating a named mentorship award through an industry awards body, and growing female representation on an executive team.

Those are decisions made in rooms where women weren’t previously, and they scored higher precisely because they were specific and measurable. The generic, ‘I champion inclusion’ language, by contrast, consistently scored low.

Women hold only four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s actually blocking the pipeline?


What I saw in the submissions maps onto that four percent figure. Women in this industry are reaching the top through ownership, as principal brokers and brokerage founders, more readily than they’re climbing to the C-suite of lenders and national networks. The pipeline block is less about entry, where women are well represented, and more about the executive and lender-leadership rungs, where sponsorship and succession decisions are made behind closed doors.

Where I see it changing, several nominees have deliberately built the missing infrastructure, a regional VP who grew her firm’s female executive representation from one to several, and formal women’s leadership masterminds aimed squarely at the plateau before executive level. Those governance and sponsorship footholds are how the four percent eventually moves.

Women are set to control $4 trillion in Canadian assets by 2028. Is the industry ready for that shift?


Not yet, and that gap is the real story here. CIBC’s estimate has Canadian women controlling nearly $4 trillion by 2028, yet the industry’s client-facing model was largely built around a different default customer. If the industry treats this as a service-design problem, not just a marketing one, this cohort is exactly who’s positioned to lead it.

Sofia Hondrogiannis

Associate vice president, national distribution,
broker services, TD, Toronto


Sofia Hondrogiannis is associate vice president of national distribution, broker services, at TD, a role she stepped into in 2025 after leading sales and strategy for TD’s broker channel. She celebrated her 25th anniversary at TD this past year and has helped guide the broker channel to the number one market share position in broker mortgage originations in Canada. A previous CMP Women of Influence honouree, she’s also a regular panelist and moderator at industry events including the Women in Mortgage Summit Canada.

Sofia Hondrogiannis on closing Canada’s mortgage leadership gap

 

Many argue that sponsorship, actively advocating for women in closed-door decisions, moves the needle more than mentorship. Did you see evidence of that shift in this year’s cohort?


Absolutely. Mentorship provides guidance, but sponsorship provides opportunity, and this year’s cohort reflects this. We’re seeing more women being put forward for speaking opportunities and having more visibility in the industry because someone is actively advocating for them. The women who are more visible are those who have both strong mentors to help them navigate and sponsors who are willing to put their credibility on the line to speak on their behalf.

Women hold only four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage. What’s actually blocking the pipeline?


While progress has been made, there’s still work to do in creating a stronger leadership pipeline. Organizations are being more deliberate about identifying high-potential women earlier, creating pathways into leadership roles, and ensuring diverse voices are present in succession planning discussions.

Women are set to control $4 trillion in Canadian assets by 2028. Is the industry ready for that shift?


This represents a significant opportunity for the industry, but serving this growing client segment effectively requires more than representation alone. It also requires a thoughtful approach and relationship building. Brokers who will lead in this space are those investing in building diverse teams, expanding how they advise customers, and rethinking how they engage clients holistically.

How Canada’s Top 50 Women of Influence are building tomorrow’s leadership pipeline


What separates this year’s Top 50 is the instinct to build something that outlasts them. Nearly every winner leads structured mentorship, but the strongest among them have gone further, founding their own brokerages, sitting on industry boards, and running philanthropic initiatives they built from nothing. More than a third returned from last year’s list, proof this recognition tracks sustained impact rather than a single good year.

The throughline across every interview was the same. Mentorship builds confidence, but sponsorship changes careers, and this year’s honourees are done waiting for someone else to open the door. They’re opening it themselves and holding it for the next woman behind them in Canada’s mortgage industry.

 

Meet the judges

 
 

Top 50 Best Female Mortgage Brokers and Professionals in Canada

 

Insights

As part of our editorial process, CMP’s researchers interviewed the subject matter experts below for an independent analysis of this report and its findings.

 

 

Frequently asked questions about Canada’s Top 50 Women of Influence 2026

 

Who are the 50 best female mortgage brokers and professionals in Canada for 2026?


Top 50 Women of Influence is an annual list from Canadian Mortgage Professional recognizing the 50 best female mortgage brokers and professionals in Canada – women who, over the past 12 months, have made a significant impact in the industry, spanning brokerages, lenders, insurers, and technology platforms.

How were the 2026 winners selected?


Mortgage professionals nominated outstanding female leaders, detailing their achievements and contributions over the past 12 months. A judging panel of five industry leaders and past Women of Influence honourees, including Dalia Barsoum of Streetwise Mortgages and Streetwise Wealth and Sofia Hondrogiannis of TD Bank Group, reviewed the nominations and selected the final list. CMP voided self-votes and votes for a judge’s own organization to avoid conflicts of interest.

What’s the difference between mentorship and sponsorship in a mortgage career?


Mentorship offers guidance and skill-building through advice and coaching. Sponsorship means actively using your credibility to advocate for someone in rooms they aren’t in, recommending them for roles, and putting their name forward when opportunities arise. Multiple winners and judges in this year’s report say sponsorship is what actually accelerates a woman’s career.

Why do women hold only four percent of CEO roles in Canadian mortgage?


Industry leaders point to a lack of access to informal networks, where career-advancing relationships have traditionally formed, combined with women needing to repeatedly demonstrate readiness before being viewed as leadership material. The barrier appears concentrated at the executive and lender-leadership level rather than at entry, where women are well represented.

How is Canada’s mortgage renewal wave affecting brokers and lenders in 2026?


Roughly 60 percent of Canadian mortgages, about 1.2 million loans, are renewing through 2026, with five-year fixed borrowers facing an average payment increase near 20 percent, according to the Bank of Canada. Brokers and lenders are prioritizing client education and affordability advice to guide borrowers through the transition.

Is the mortgage industry ready for Canadian women to control $4 trillion in assets by 2028?


Not yet, industry leaders say. CIBC Capital Markets projects Canadian women will control nearly $4 trillion in assets by 2028, but the client-facing model in mortgage and wealth advice was built around a different default customer and closing that gap will require rethinking products and advice, not just marketing.

What companies and industries are represented in the Top 50 Women of Influence 2026?


The 2026 list spans both sides of the mortgage industry, with 72 percent of honourees working the broker channel and the remaining 28 percent representing lenders, mortgage insurers, or technology platforms, reflecting the full scope of Canada’s mortgage ecosystem.

 

 

Methodology

To compile the 2026 Top 50 Women of Influence list, CMP encouraged mortgage professionals to nominate outstanding female leaders from across the industry. Nominators were asked to provide details of their nominee’s achievements and initiatives over the past 12 months, including specific examples of their professional accomplishments and contributions to the industry as a whole.

The final list was selected by a judging panel made up of industry leaders and previous Women of Influence, including the following judges.

  • Dalia Barsoum, Streetwise Mortgages
     

  • Daniela DeTommaso, FCT, a national title insurance and real estate services provider
     

  • Michelle Campbell, Mortgage Architects
     

  • Rebecca Casey, Mortgage Architects, Village Mortgage Group
     

  • Sofia Hondrogiannis, TD Bank Group


To avoid any potential conflicts of interest, the CMP team voided self-voting and votes for a judge’s own organization.

CMP’s Top 50 Women of Influence, recognizing the 50 best female mortgage brokers and professionals in Canada, is proudly supported by the Canadian Alternative Mortgage Lenders Association.