Philomena Comerford, president, CEO, Baird MacGregor
Philomena Comerford is no stranger to navigating life in a world traditionally surrounded by men. “I have six brothers,” she says with a chuckle, “so I’m comfortable around men and don’t view them as the competition.”
Comerford is now president, CEO, principal broker and owner at Baird MacGregor Insurance Brokers LP & Hargraft Schofield LP. How did she get there? Comerford was attending art college when her mother brought her into the industry as a summer student working in claims at Tomenson Saunders Whitehead Ltd. Six years later, in 1980, she joined Baird MacGregor as senior commercial account executive. She was appointed vice president the following year, became president in 1990, and was a partner a mere decade later.
“I got to enjoy the fact that Harry [MacGregor] and Jack [Baird] were groundbreaking, in the sense that they sought women,” she says of her former partners and company founders, who retired in 2007. “They believed women would be collaborative, work hard, and bring less ego to the table.”
In fact, the two men actually offered her the presidency when she was pregnant with her first son. Initially hesitant and not wanting to do two jobs poorly, an industry colleague, another man, convinced her to say yes. It was the right move, and manageable because she had a lot of flexibility when it came to being present for her children while still getting the job done.
Flexibility is what Comerford calls the secret sauce. In an industry with a lot of rules around the ‘right things’ to do, any other rules need to make sense and not simply serve to give leaders control that will ultimately cost them their talent.
“Someone who is failing at home is not going to be a good employee,” she says of the need to be flexible. “If people can achieve a work-life balance and have successful careers at the same time — especially younger generations of people watching all the Boomers who basically live to work — they will feel they can also be a good mother, or belong to a drama club, or participate in a sport, for example.”
For Comerford, providing flexibility ensures a diverse workforce of which she is very proud. Baird MacGregor has, in her words, very talented men and very talented women, including women in senior positions.
“It’s simply who we are.”
Refusing to fixate on the fact that she is a woman, Comerford knew when she started out that it would take some time to build a reputation, and she knew other women would follow. She also knew she would earn people’s trust through the work she was doing; and if her clients were happy, it would lead to other things.
“In my mind,” she says, “the best way to get proper representation, not just for women but for all underrepresented groups, is quite simply to be good at what you do. If you follow your own core values and you’re authentic, if you focus on the work and your purpose, people won’t care about your race, creed, colour, sex. It all becomes irrelevant. It all falls into place. The cream always rises to the top.”
