Pegah Babaie, Vice President, Strategy and Planning, Canadian Banking, at Scotiabank, will tell you that her career was never planned instead, it has been shaped by being consistently and deliberately open to opportunities.
Out of university, she was open to an internship meant to last a summer; open to adding a second major to her degree; open to pursuing an MBA; and open to pursuing roles that asked more of her than she realized she was capable of at the time.
In more than two decades at Scotiabank, the thread woven across Pegah’s career is her willingness to embrace change.
“Your career is a reflection of who you are as a person,” she says. “The right answer to most opportunities is YES – even if you don’t feel ready.”
Pegah was born in Italy, before returning with her family to their home country of Iran. Then when she turned 18, the family immigrated to Canada just in time for her to register for university. “My life changed as a result of that immigration,” she says.
She chose to study Computer Science as it was something she was good at and she could see that organizations were looking for employees who were adept in the field. When an internship came up in Scotiabank’s Technology department, she took it, intending to leave at the end of the summer.
“I loved it so much,” she says, “and I learned a lot, so I didn’t leave,” even though it meant working full-time during the day and studying at night. “As a first-generation immigrant, you look at life very differently and when you’re given an opportunity…you rarely say no.”
She went on to add a second major in Marketing when she realized she wanted to “better understand the client, businesses, and how to think about the organization as a brand.” She continued to build her knowledge across both fields by enrolling in the MBA program at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, once again without stepping away from her role at the Bank.
“I love learning and I love growing,” she says. “It always intrigued me to seek new opportunities.”
That’s held true over the course of Pegah’s career at Scotiabank. She said yes to a wide variety of areas including Real Estate Secured Lending, Global Risk Management, and Tangerine, where she ran Contact Centres and Operations, and helped establish some of Tangerine’s first agile practices. She was also at the forefront of leading the Bank’s client relief efforts during the COVID-19 crisis, supporting the Bank’s Payment, Cards, and Unsecured Lending and Mortgage business areas.
Today, Pegah’s current role is at the centre of the Bank’s most significant investment decisions – shaping capital allocation, sequencing priorities, and translating strategy into meaningful results for clients. “It is very satisfying to enable decisions that make our clients’ lives better,” she says. “Whether that’s putting their kids through school or planning for their retirement… these are truly moments that matter.”
In fact, throughout her career, Pegah has continuously led and created alignment across functions, an experience that shaped the way she thinks about what it means to lead.
“My style is very democratic, very collaborative, very team-oriented,” she says. She builds strong teams strategically, adding new members based on what the whole team needs. She also bets on people who are almost ready – seeing the potential before something is proven – and creates the conditions for them to grow.
“The way I show up at work is similar to how I show up at home with my family,” she says, and the teams she builds reflect that consistency. She backs that bet with honest feedback – what she calls “tough love” – and is deliberate about trust coming first, always.
“I spend a lot of my time building relationships and building trust,” she says, “feedback and honesty need to be two-way.” The guard comes down, she notes, when the intent is clear. Her intent, with every member of every team she has ever led, has been the same: to give people the information they need to grow into what they can become.
“If I can contribute to people achieving the goals and dreams they have for their career,” she says, “I’ve done my job.” She also holds a view of that responsibility that extends beyond her own team. “Much the same way leaders have taken a chance on me, I believe we need more leaders to take chances on people with diverse background, to push people into areas where they may not be the best at right away, but it’s a great opportunity for them to learn.”
Her advice to those at the beginning of their career or at a crossroads is simple – stay technically strong, develop behavioural skills, and be open to opportunities – because curiosity, resilience, and the willingness to move before you feel certain will ultimately determine how far you can go.
“Learning is not just technical. It’s also behavioural. Always embrace feedback, take people’s perspectives into account, reflect on yourself, and commit to continuous improvement,” she says. “If you are open to taking risks and to feedback, down the line, good things are bound to happen.”