Real Talk With Tamara Vrooman
We love sharing stories of resilience and determination within the tourism sector and no one knows the economic toll of COVID-19 better than the airline industry. Tamara Vrooman, President & CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) made time to chat with us about her professional journey and vision for the future. She shares her experience with overcoming rejection, advice for empowering women in leadership and her vision for helping British Columbia, and Canada, recover.
When you look back on your career, what helped you strive for senior leadership roles? What pushed you?
Back when I was studying for my master’s in history; I was considering a PhD in history and looking at doing public policy issues as part of my thesis. On reflection, I realized I didn’t want to be looking back – I wanted to focus on places where the decisions were made.
This brought me to the Provincial Government, where I benefited from the diverse and intellectually challenging environment there. Along that path, I was also declined for a junior role with the Ministry of Finance, as they assumed my history background meant I had poor math skills. That made me determined; and 12 years later I was the first woman to be the Deputy Minister of Finance. But like so many things in life, my determination was not the only driver of my success. I benefited from the wisdom, counsel, and support of a huge number of colleagues - some of whom were bosses, some of whom were peers, and some of whom were team members - along the way.
Can you share with us some of the highlights from your career to date?
The above role is definitely a highlight; I had many accomplishments during that period - from negotiating all of the expiring collective agreements in the public sector without resorting to a strike, to gaining two AAA credit ratings for the Province of BC’s fiscal performance, and also being the first Deputy Minister to take a maternity leave.
Another highlight is my career as the CEO of Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union. There, we pursued our values-based banking philosophy and adopted financial, social, environmental measures of our performance many years before others – including becoming the first carbon neutral Financial Institution in North America, being the private sector’s largest living wage employer in the country, and developing Canada’s first 100% triple-bottom line bank, Vancity Community Investment Bank, based in Toronto. Our reputation became international, and I was able to share our story with several world leaders and fellow business leaders across the globe.
Most recently, I’ve taken on two new assignments – the Chancellor of Simon Fraser University and the CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority – or YVR as we commonly call it. I’m excited for the new challenges here and for the opportunity to work with two institutions that will benefit and elevate our province for future generations.
What are you most looking forward to impacting as President and CEO of YVR?
First and foremost, we have a role in helping British Columbia, and Canada, recover from COVID-19. I believe YVR has a more diverse role to play as both a pillar and innovator in British Columbia’s future. We have an opportunity to increase our support for local and regional businesses as well as support pathways to economic growth for our economy.
Continuing to maintain industry-leading standards for health and safety will be essential to ensuring the public has confidence in travel and tourism in the future. Also, the aviation and transportation sector have not always been leaders in sustainability. Improved green-house-gas emissions and greater focus on sustainability is another area where I see making some big improvements.
Even though we are in the depths of a global pandemic and our industry is particularly affected by it, we have a great team at YVR who know that even though we are an airport, people are at the heart of our business. It is not very often one gets to play a leading role in a time of change in one sector, as I did with values-based banking at Vancity. To get the chance to do it again at an organization as vital to British Columbia as YVR is a true privilege.
What is needed to move the dial for women in hospitality and tourism to push for parity in senior leadership roles?
I don’t believe it’s complicated – we need three key changes:
First, women need to be offered more senior leadership roles and their pay needs to be equal to that of their male colleagues.
Second, I’m also a firm believer in what we track gets done – we need to start measuring more.
And finally, we need to introduce more work/life balance policies – not only in the workplace but in the homeplace as well. The latter means introducing initiatives to support more men taking time and receiving benefits for childcare and family duties.
I know that many employers are puzzled when young women leaders with high potential ‘self-select out’ of leadership roles when the company has good practices to support women in the workplace. But what they fail to see is the imbalance that still exists for women in the homeplace.
The global pandemic has amplified this: we see far more women dropping out of the workforce to attend to family and home duties than we do men, even when the woman might be the higher income earner.
What words of advice do you have for women in the industry interested in senior leadership, who may be discouraged right now?
There is no doubt about it, these are extremely challenging times. And significant parts of the tourism, recreation and hospitality industries have been disproportionately affected by the global pandemic and the mobility and social contact restrictions that have come with it. That is the obvious bad news.
The good news is that the pandemic has confirmed that we collectively value the opportunity to have human connection and experiences like those offered by our sector. And the research and data show that the pent-up demand is huge – people are anxious to return to working out, travelling, and dining out as soon as it is safe to do so.
We also know things will not return to how they were before the pandemic – that there is a huge appetite for innovation and change. Things that would have been unthinkable before – are possible now, including the roles and forms of leadership. When I look across the world, it is interesting to see where the world’s leaders are taking center stage on their own terms. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand is a great example. She leads in a different way, with her values and directness in full view, all the time.
While we need to pay attention to equal pay, hiring policies and public measuring of results as I discussed above – I do believe we are seeing a change in how women are viewed as leaders and the need to have more of that in every aspect of business and public life.
Can you talk about one woman who has impacted your life and career?
My maternal grandmother is probably the one. She was a teacher who grew up in Merritt, B.C. as the daughter of a coal miner. She taught me to read when I was just three years old – a skill that has obviously served me well! She was also the original recycler. She was never throwing things away. Everything had a use – not just for the sake of saving it but for the sake of repurposing it. She was also exceedingly generous with her time, did not take herself too seriously, and wasn’t afraid to debate politics with any man. She was a woman of values, and one I aspire to be like. She died at the age of 96 in 2013, and I still wear the ring that she gave to me. It is my daily reminder of her character and influence.
What is your favorite destination in Canada?
Beautiful, British Columbia! We have such varied landscape, and natural beauty. There’s so much you can do just interacting with the outdoors in all seasons – but I also love the new experiences that are being developed in our industry. Our culinary experiences, craft breweries and distilleries, outdoor kayaking trips dedicated to all ages and indigenous tourism are all offering world-class experiences right in our backyard. Of course, the rest of the country is beautiful as well… I encourage you to book a flight and explore it 😉.
About Tamara Vrooman
As President & CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR), a world-class hub with local roots, Tamara Vrooman understands the value of having an airport that is both an economic generator and community contributor—a hub of innovation that gives back, supports the region and sets the bar for sustainability.
Prior to joining YVR, Tamara served for 13 years as the President & CEO of Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union. She assumed leadership of Vancity at the beginning of the global financial crisis and transformed the business and service model, delivering record profitability and doubling its assets. During her tenure, Vancity became a global reference point, and she became a leading voice in the Canadian and international financial sectors, demonstrating a successful new vision for values-based banking. This experience, combined with her comprehensive understanding of YVR gained by her previous nine-year tenure on our Board, make her the perfect leader to guide our team as we reimagine YVR’s role as a world-class, sustainable hub.
Tamara currently serves as Simon Fraser University’s 12th Chancellor and chairs the board of the Rick Hansen Foundation, in addition to other board roles. She is the recipient of the Order of British Columbia (2019), Peter Lougheed Award for Leadership in Public Policy (2016) and BC CEO of the Year Award – Major Private Company, Business in Vancouver (2015) among many other citations.