Olympia challenges its people to go ‘beyond the boxes’

For 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. “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 neighbours together. Halloween, Eid, Christmas, even World Happiness Day are important days on the calendar. “Everyone looks forward to our annual Christmas getaway weekend that happens every year at Kananaskis,” says Virdi. “We work hard but we also get to play together too.”

Trowbridge says that everyone at Olympia can take advantage of development opportunities like training and education, mentorships and seminars. But the chance to bring experiences and ideas to the table also broadens employee experiences and skills.

“You get the opportunity here to feel like you’re part of something greater,” says Trowbridge, “to feel valued and recognized as an individual. A lot of corporations try to stick you into a specific box, but at Olympia they encourage you to go beyond the boxes, to challenge yourself to be greater.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Alberta’s Top Employers winners, published January 28, 2025 in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

At Olympia, a world of opportunity in a small package

When Alice Wagner moved to Alberta from the East Coast more than two decades ago, she immediately set her sights on finding a job where she could learn new skills and build a career. She soon found one in Calgary as a receptionist for Olympia Financial Group.

“During the interview, I immediately knew I wanted to work here,” she says. “I liked the people who interviewed me. I liked the vibe in the office. I’ve never regretted the decision.”

Within five months, Wagner was offered her first promotion, as a sales processor. She quickly moved up the ranks into various supervisory positions. Today, she is operations manager for Olympia Benefits, working closely with the vice president of operations, staff, agents and clients to make sure operations within the complex group of companies runs smoothly.

“We have a lot of people who have been here for a long time,” she says. “We have a good team who support each other.”

With common shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Olympia Financial Group operates a group of companies with 287 employees from its Calgary head office, including Olympia Currency & Global Payments, a company that manages global payments and foreign exchange for a variety of clients.

“Olympia is a dynamic place,” says Neil McCullagh, Olympia Currency & Global Payments’ president. “We run multiple different business lines. Some are obviously complementary to each other, but a few business lines, on the surface, don’t seem like they fit in as much. But because of the way that Olympia works, they all work together well.”

McCullagh says that the sheer number of opportunities available for employees within the Olympia Group is surprising, especially considering the company’s relatively small size within the industry. Those opportunities are a big part of Olympia’s appeal to employees trying to grow a career in the financial sector.

“It means that staff can change divisions or companies within Olympia,” he says. “They can grow and have long careers. We have employees who started in finance 20 years ago and are now running operations in other divisions.”

Olympia’s size gives the company a real competitive advantage within the industry, says McCullagh. “We’re a small company with family roots and we’re very entrepreneurially focused. Our size allows us to be more nimble than our bigger competitors; it allows us to be a whiteboard company where we have opportunities to think outside the box,” he says.

“If we find there’s an opportunity to be a bit of a disrupter in the space, to bring in a new product or challenge the status quo, we have a spirit that lets us do that.”

Olympia’s size also allows the company to create a culture of inclusion where people feel that their work is important and vital to the organization, says McCullagh. “We are a thinking ground for employees. If you have ideas, they are welcome. If those ideas make sense for our organization, we will try them.”

The company also finds ways to maintain a family-like culture with regular events. Halloween, Eid, Christmas, even World Happiness Day are important days on the calendar, and everyone looks forward to Olympia’s annual Christmas getaway weekend in the mountains around Kananaskis, Alta. But for Wagner, it’s the way employees are treated on a daily basis that really matters.

“Olympia recognizes value in people,” says Wagner. “This is a place where you can grow and learn, and if you show that you are eager to accomplish things, the company will foster that. You can reach whatever goals you set for yourself. It’s really up to you.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers winners, published April 8, 2025 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.