Griffith Group establishes Pride Student Award at TMU

Jane Griffith wants 2SLGBTQIA+ students to know that they’re not alone. 

As the managing partner and founder of Griffith Group Executive Search, she has created the Griffith Group Executive Search Pride Student Award at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) to support students who are positively impacting their community. 

“I’m a big believer in community. At Griffith Group, we work with non-profit organizations — universities, hospitals, think tanks, research institutions — and the harder we work, the better the outcomes within the community,” said Griffith. “The vast majority of students need support. With the 2SLGBTQIA+ community being ferociously under attack now, this is a community that needs support urgently.” 

Griffith is a board member with the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC). According to the CGLCC, Canada is home to 100,000 2SLGBTQIA+-owned businesses, though nearly half of the owners hide who they are to avoid losing business. The CGLCC also notes that a third of them have lost business due to their identity. 

“When you’re in leadership, you lift people up. We at Griffith Group Executive Search are in a position of privilege — and I feel it is our responsibility to contribute to that lift,” said Griffith. “If we can help to alleviate some of the financial burden for students in terms of school costs, securing a place to live and getting food on the table, it’s the least we can do.”

The Pride Student Award will provide $2,000 annually to an undergraduate student at TMU who self-identifies as 2SLGBTQIA+, is in good academic standing, and contributes to support and uplift the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The first award recipient will be chosen in the Fall 2025 semester.

“TMU has such a vibrant and compassionate 2SLGBTQIA+ culture. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we show up for these equity-seeking students, invest in their development, and create pathways for their continued learning and growth,” said Jen McMillen, vice-provost, students at TMU. “Jane is a respected leader in this space, and I’m grateful to her and Griffith Group for their generous support of the bright, community-minded TMU students who are so deserving of this recognition.”

Griffith lives the values that she seeks to reward in students at TMU. In addition to being a veteran recruiter of senior leaders in the public sector, Griffith is also an avid volunteer. She has previously served as a board member of 30% Club Canada and Informed Opinions, in addition to serving as a current mentor in the CGLCC OUT for Business program. Griffith founded The Council of Women Executives and serves as the executive director of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors Canada. Griffith Group has also formed a partnership with CivicAction and is the exclusive provider of coaches for its DiverseCity Fellows program.

TMU an ideal place to launch the Pride Student Award

Her decision to establish the Pride Student Award at TMU drew on her 20 years of experience as a recruiter, where she has met people across industries. “I tell people about the quality and the character of the folks working at the university, and that the values and the purpose of the university by and large is embodied by the leaders of the institution,” she said. “There is nowhere else that I could think of to create a scholarship for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.”

She also cites TMU as being in an ideal location in the city. The university is at the heart of downtown Toronto — where cultures and collaborations thrive — and is neighbour to the Church and Wellesley Village area, home to numerous 2SLGBTQIA+-owned businesses and community organizations.

Griffith is often asked by students and emerging professionals for advice as they enter the working world. “An undergraduate once said to me, ‘I was told in an interview that if I wanted to work at a company, I shouldn’t say that I was a member of the LGBTQ community,’ and asked my thoughts on the matter,” she recalled. “What I say to the students who ask me these types of questions is if you’re going into a workplace that doesn’t appreciate parts of your identity — your cultural heritage, if you are a woman, if you are transgender, if you have a same sex partner, if you are a parent — if they don’t see your lived experience as an asset to the organization, is that the type of organization where you want to work?”

She advises students and applicants that “we often forget in the interview process that candidates have an equal amount of power, but it’s a different form of power. Lean into that and investigate the organizations,” she said. “Be your true self, bring your whole self to work, adapt and contribute to making the organization better; but hold firm and have the courage to say no to working at an organization if there’s no alignment with your values. Don’t just chase dollars, but also chase values.”