Welcome back to EY Spotlight: Hermine Ferron-Brandin – Experiencing EY around the world

From Paris to Singapore and now Toronto, Hermine Ferron-Brandin shares her journey to and from EY — and back again.

After three and a half years at the EY Singapore office, I used my wealth and asset management experience to transfer to BNP Paribas for the next three years, where I was Chief of Staff for the APAC region.

After six years in Singapore, my family and I decided it was time for another change. I reached out to Xavier Freynet, who was in charge of FSO consulting for EMEIA, and he put me in touch with Glenn Parkinson at EY Canada. We decided that Toronto would be a good fit for us, as the diversity is so rich. We moved to Toronto during the summer of 2021, which was extra challenging with three children during a pandemic, but EY supported me and my family every step of the way and made it as easy as possible for us.

What led you back to EY?

I realized after joining BNP Paribas that I enjoyed working on the client side of things. I almost acted as an internal consultant there, working to revamp and transform the strategy and the business, and challenged the status quo. I couldn’t see myself taking on a more traditional banking role, because what I found exciting about consulting is that it forces you to stay ahead of the curve — you come up with the most innovative ideas for your clients to challenge them to be better.

EY has always been flexible and growth-oriented, providing employees with opportunities to explore and learn more about their passions. Sustainability, for example, is very important to me, so now in Canada I will add this angle to my role – I can combine my interest with my expertise and skills to create a role I can thrive in.

My career would not be the same without being at EY. You cannot get this type of exposure, and international and diverse experience, anywhere else. I’m very grateful to EY for having given me the opportunity to work all over the world — I did my new manager training in Amsterdam and my new senior manager training in Kuala Lumpur! In fact, during my training in Kuala Lumpur, Mark Weinberger, the CEO at the time, was telling us about how many times he left EY and came back again, and it really resonated with me. It gave me a sense of confidence in EY to know that they value the same things I do — flexibility, opportunity, community — and that they will always welcome you with open arms.

Who stood out to you as a mentor or influence during your time at EY?

When I first started at EY back in France, I was very junior in the role and there was a senior partner who I was very impressed by. I recall this one specific client meeting where he took charge of a situation, explaining to the client how their business was not going in the right ethical direction, and if they did not change, he would no longer be able to support them. I was in awe of his ability to refuse potential business based on morality and ethics. This experience stayed close to my heart over the years and is very true to what we value at EY — we always strive to do the right thing to build a better working world.

I had two additional mentors in France, Patrick Menard and Xavier Freynet, who I could always rely on to give me real advice without any sugar coating. They contributed to the fact that I never really had to think about my status a woman in the organization. I always saw women as having the same opportunities as men, and I think my mentors helped a great deal with this. I felt that they were working towards creating equal opportunities for people to advance in their careers based not on gender, but on their qualifications and ability to align themselves with EY values. A great example is when I moved to Singapore. Even though I was pregnant at the time and needed to be on maternity leave before starting work there, it was never made to feel like a hinderance or career setback.

How have your international travels and experiences in different places shaped your view of the working world?

When I joined Singapore as a young senior manager, I struggled with navigating the diversity on the team. There are so many diverse cultures, religions and backgrounds in Asia — working there you get to meet and collaborate with people from all over the region, and that takes some time to adjust to. By the time I left Singapore, it had become very normal to me. If I thought I was used to working with a diverse team before, I wasn't.

I would recommend to everyone to try and work in fast-developing and diverse regions of the world, like Asia, because the people there are less afraid to try new things and ideas, and you truly realize the core of diversity when you work there. It is also important to understand that each country is very different in their cultural norms and practices, so it is important to familiarize yourself with this before you do business there. I found it to be an extremely rich experience for me that I learned a lot from and I hope this is something I can bring to EY Canada, since Toronto is very diverse, and that’s one of the reasons I was attracted to this city.

The past year has seen an acceleration of digital innovation in so many sectors, with e-commerce and e-banking becoming an imperative for millions. How can we keep the human at the centre with so much digital disruption?

I see digital disruption as an opportunity and not something we should be afraid of. In my opinion, these technological advances will actually help us put humans at the centre again. Thinking about e-banking as an example, most customers don’t want to go to the bank every time they need a simple process completed, like cancelling a credit card – it’s much easier if you can do those small things on an app or over the phone. However, they might need to speak with someone in-person if they need financial advice. Going through the pandemic has created the biggest opportunity we've had in the last few years to create more meaningful human interaction by shifting our focus to what is really adding value. As we have had to accelerate digital innovations and limit in-person activities to what is crucial, we need to think about where human interaction is necessary and truly meaningful. Technology has its limits, and that’s where human interaction has its space, so let’s be more intentional about what needs to happen in-person and what can be done digitally.