TD is proud to employ more than 85,000 individuals across North America and around the world, many of them in unique roles that aren't often associated with financial institutions.
In our latest 'Meet TD' series, we introduce you to some of the people at the bank who come in every day to make our business more environmentally sustainable, and to address climate change in the communities we serve.
When Jacquelynn Henke enters a room, she experiences it differently than most. Instead of focusing on the colour of the walls, or the furniture, for example, TD's head of innovation for enterprise real estate is scanning for ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the space.
How?
"By looking for anything from underutilized office space to finding areas that are vacant but still being fully lit and cooled, my team finds opportunities to reduce TD's expenses and our impact on the environment," said Henke, who also considers the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce and the demand for more flexible working hours to future proof a space.
"It's important that how we use space at TD is adaptable for changing workstyles," she said.
Working closely with design, construction and facility management teams at TD means Henke shares strategies and best practices around new innovations and initiatives coming into the market related to sustainability and operational excellence to incorporate into the branches and office buildings that TD operates.
READ MORE: Planting seeds of prosperity: Meet Jennifer MacDonald, TD Environment Program Manager
For instance, if the bank wanted to gain more insight into the new TRUE Zero Waste certification system (a complementary green rating system to LEED) Henke and her team would be tasked with understanding what's going on in the industry from a leadership point of view, and advise on how to work with the system in a way that works best for TD long-term.
"We are always on top of developing technologies and sustainability standards. At the same time, knowing how much energy a particular branch consumes or needs allows us to map out ways to reduce utility usage. But sometimes it's less about the space itself and more about improving a process," said Henke.
One recent initiative that Henke says she was proud to work on is TD's Smart Retail Controls program. Piloted in 2017, the system provides multiple retail locations in the U.S. and Canada with real-time visibility into how much energy the branch is consuming. It also enables management of the branch to control its temperature from a remote location.
Business as usual
Prior to joining TD nine years ago, Henke was the sustainability manager and a senior project manager for Harvard University's Allston Development Group. It was there that she was charged with creating the "greenest campus ever." While her time at Harvard was rewarding, it was the opportunity to make a bigger impact by managing the LEED certification strategy for several multi national retail locations, regional headquarters, call centres and other offices throughout TD's North American network that led her to the bank.
"And the rest is history," she said.
READ: A career built on purpose: Meet Nicole Vadori, TD's head of environment
Today, more than 200 TD branches across North America are LEED certified as a result of the bank taking measures to improve environmental performance in areas such as energy efficiency, materials and resource use, indoor environmental quality, and design.
In 2018, the bank rolled out LED lighting retrofit upgrades to 770 branches across Canada. The initiative is part of the bank's larger $100 billion commitment to support the transition to a low-carbon economy through investing and financing activities, and other programs by 2030, as part of its multi-year corporate citizenship platform called The Ready Commitment.
"This way of thinking, of trying for better, has been infused into our DNA. To me it's emblematic of our company culture and how we've grown into a sustainability leader."
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