Liz Bailey-Connor

Liz is a dynamic human resources strategist and accomplished people leader with a reputation for maximizing the potential of talent, inspiring positive transformational culture change and championing equity, inclusion and diversity. She achieves results by empowering people to build their competencies, enhance their self-awareness and grow into higher-performing, more confident professionals and leaders.

At First West, Liz oversees all facets of human resources from strategic planning through to execution. Her portfolio includes talent attraction, talent management, HR operations, employee and labour relations, compensation, benefits, rewards, learning, organizational culture and leadership development. Through the rigorous application of insight from data and analytics, Liz has transformed the credit union’s human resources strategies to align with First West’s vision and solve business problems while ensuring employees are optimally engaged.

Prior to joining First West in 2008, Liz led talent management at Canada’s largest cooperative financial institution. She also has previous leadership experience in various roles at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). An analytical thinker with a passion for enabling people to thrive, Liz was also a chartered psychologist in the United Kingdom and even has experience as a secondary school science teacher. Her diverse background gives Liz a uniquely creative perspective for identifying opportunities, using data and solving challenges in business across many industries.

Liz holds a Bachelor of Science in human psychology and a Master of Science in educational psychology, as well as her Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) designation. She is also part of the B.C. and Yukon Human Resources Management Association and has been honoured with a Distinguished Communication in Business award from the International Association of Business Communicators British Columbia (IABC BC).