Getting to know Alex Gysen, TD’s new Regional Manager 2SLGBTQ+ Business Development

Alex assumed the role in early 2022 and brings a wealth of business and community experience with him.

By Fraser Tripp

TD Bank has been a dedicated sponsor of Pride In Business since the beginning. This partnership has given both teams the opportunity to collaborate with individuals dedicated to supporting 2SLGBTQ+ businesses and the community at large.

One such individual is Alex Gysen, TD’s Regional Manager 2SLGBTQ+ Business Development for the Prairie Region. We sat down with Alex to learn more about his role and how it supports the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and a little more about him.

Pride In Business: What is your role at TD? What did you do before?

Alex Gysen: To put it simply, my role is to act as a trusted liaison between TD and the 2SLGBTQ+ community across the region, which includes Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories. In addition to my deep understanding of the community itself, I rely on my ability to develop strong relationships with its members in order to fully discover their financial needs and goals. I've been in the banking industry for about nine years, including with other financial institutions.

PIB: What services do you and your team offer to the 2SLGBTQ+ community?

AG: I'm part of the TD 2SLGBTQ+ Banking Group, which has regional managers located across Canada that work in collaboration with 2SLGBTQ+ communities. We work to find the best banking solutions to meet each community's unique needs, while cultivating strong allyship with members.

I'm also fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of talented colleagues from multiple lines of business, including Personal Banking, Business Banking and TD Wealth, to bring the whole bank to our clients. This means all of our services are readily available to our 2SLGBTQ+ clients with the best financial advice and exceptional service they deserve.

As part of this, I continually work hard to stay engaged with the community at large by supporting and volunteering with local grassroots organizations. This helps keeps me up to date with any relevant news and community developments. By having access to all areas of the bank, I can ensure that our 2SLGBTQ+ clients will have all of their financial needs taken care of by TD staff who are members of the community themselves, or strong and educated allies.

We also think it's important to highlight amazing individuals, businesses, and organizations in the community through our wide-reaching social media accounts to help bring visibility to the awesome work being done throughout the year in our local 2SLGBTQ+ communities.

PIB: Tell us a bit about yourself.

AG: I love to spend time in the outdoors and feel very privileged to live close to the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I like to go hiking, rock climbing, skiing and snowshoeing, but above all I love to trail-run! Every year I try and run at least one ultramarathon. If you are wondering what an ultramarathon is, it is a footrace longer than a traditional marathon (which are about 42km). I like to run races anywhere from 50km all the way to 100+km; typically, you have anywhere between 12 and 30 hours to finish depending on the race. This year I am running at an event called The Canadian Death Race – it is a 125km ultramarathon in Grande Cache with over 5000 metres of elevation change. I will be raising funds for an amazing Calgary organization while doing so – Bear Clan Patrol YYC. If you are interested in donating, please reach out to me for details! When I'm not running, I enjoy spending time with my amazing husband William and our cat Annika.

PIB: What inspired you to get into banking? What inspired you to take on a 2SLGBTQ+ role at TD?

AG: Well, this may come as a shock to some, but I did not grow up wanting to be a banker! Since being a race-car driver was not in the cards for me, I attended university and studied business administration. After finishing school, I had a friend who worked for another financial institution and they referred me for a teller job.

I worked in a variety of positions with that company, including teller, financial services representative, financial advisor, process engineering analyst, facilitator, operations supervisor, and senior team lead of operations. During this part of my career, I also volunteered in the organization's 2SLGBTQ+ employee resource group, eventually becoming a national co-lead of the steering committee.

Then, one day, I saw a job posting from TD for a 2SLGBTQ+-focused role and was immediately interested as I had never seen a comparable role at any financial institution before. Shortly after, I had friends and colleagues sending me the very same job posting, telling me it would be the perfect job for me. My mind was made-up and I applied the next day. I believe TD is still the only North American bank paying members of the community to do this incredible work.

PIB: What’s your impression of the 2SLGBTQ+ business community in Calgary and area?

AG: I think that the 2SLGBTQ+ business community in Calgary is very loyal and I hear from a lot of individuals and corporations who say they prefer to actively seek out and engage with businesses and professionals who are also members of the community. This loyalty will serve the 2SLGBTQ+ business community here very well as we see the continued lifting of COVID-19-related restrictions and people start to find out what their 'new normal' looks like.

2SLGBTQ+ businesses and professionals in the city must continue to refer their own clients to other 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and organizations in order for us to keep building wealth for our community.

PIB: How do you feel TD promotes inclusion and diversity? When TD coins "Forever Proud" what does that mean?

AG: At TD, our purpose is to help enrich the lives of our customers, colleagues and communities. TD has a long-standing commitment to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, helping to drive change to create a more inclusive society. Through the TD Ready Commitment, the Bank's global corporate citizenship strategy, we are helping open doors to a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow.

We have long-standing relationships with many 2SLGBTQ+ community initiatives, including programs supporting affordable housing, health and social wellbeing, financial literacy, and more across North America. We are proud to support over 175 2SLGBTQ+ organizations and programs in Canada and the U.S. that are helping people feel included during Pride – and all year long – to keep pushing progress forward.

This is why TD Bank adopted the theme of "Forever Proud, Forever Progressing" for Pride 2022, because it stands for all of the work done thus far and it recognizes the challenges that lay ahead on a path to inclusion, diversity, and equity.

PIB: What does TD do to make members of the LGBTQ+ community feel welcome? Can you provide a brief overview of TD's History in this space?

AG: TD has a long history of supporting colleagues from 2SLGBTQ+ communities.

TD was the first bank in Canada to introduce same-sex spousal benefits in 1994, and in 2008, became the first bank in Canada to announce it would add gender affirmation surgery benefits to support employees and their families.
In 2005, TD became the first major bank in Canada to support a Pride festival. TD was the first major corporate sponsor of Pride and the first Canadian financial institution to feature 2SLGBTQ+-themed ads in mainstream advertising.
In 2008, TD launched 2SLGBTQ+ ads featuring same-sex couples in mainstream media, another first for Canadian banks.
In 2016, TD created a dedicated 2SLGBTQ+ talent recruiter role, which was the only position of its kind in the Canadian financial industry.
In 2019, we enhanced gender affirmation benefits coverage for transgender colleagues, to include services such as breast augmentation, chest contouring/masculinization, facial feminization, tracheal shave, and voice training.
In 2021, Canadian Personal Banking and Business Banking customer systems were enhanced, where customers can share their preferred name, pronouns, gender-neutral honorifics, and gender marker, through our branch, phone, and ATM channels.
In 2021, TD launched the 2SLGBTQ+ Ally Enablement Learning Pathway, and 2SLGBTQ+ People Managers Guide, to provide colleagues with foundational knowledge of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and ally practices.

TD realizes that growing a family looks different for everyone and that's why we enhanced our family planning benefits in March 2022 to include coverage for fertility and reproductive treatments, surrogacy and donor costs, and adoption costs, in addition to existing fertility drug coverage.

PIB: What advice would you have for anyone looking to get into the banking industry or more specifically looking for a career at TD?

AG: There are actually a few things I would recommend to someone seeking out a career with TD. First, don't be afraid to attend community events and network with folks from the bank to learn more about what they do – getting referred to a position by an existing staff member will make the largest impact out of anything else you could do. If you ever see me at a Pride In Business event, don’t be afraid to say hello!

Secondly, I would make sure you take stock of your hard and soft skills, and use the information you learned from networking to determine how these skills would transfer to your new career at the bank. Make sure you highlight these transferable skills on your resume and during your interview.

The third recommendation I would give would be to persevere in the face of rejection – I have applied to many more banking jobs than I ever worked in!

PIB: What does it mean for you to partner with Pride In Business?

AG: To partner with Pride in Business is to support the Calgary 2SLGBTQ+ community through the organization's values of collaboration and partnership, community, inclusion, empowerment, professionalism, and innovation. We do this by working with Pride In Business to support the education, initiatives, and events that ultimately provide resources to the organizations, programs, businesses, networks, professionals, and charities that support the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

TD has been a long-term supporter of Pride In Business and is proud to collaborate to ultimately create the conditions our community feels it needs in order to fully participate and succeed in a changing world.

PIB: Are you open to being approached by members of our community who would like to connect on topics we discussed in this article? How do you prefer to be contacted?

AG: Absolutely! I would happy to be contacted regarding anything discussed here. You can email me at Alex.Gysen@td.com or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn and Twitter.