Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 58
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CANADA'S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2025)
At Olympia, a world of opportunity in a small package
W
hen 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
“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.”
— Neil McCullagh, President, Olympia Currency & Global Payments
Employees participate in Olympia Financial Group’s annual charity golf tournament.
