American Express Canada has named two women to prominent roles as it continues to exceed gender equity targets in senior leadership.

PR veteran Lauren Dineen-Duarte (below) has been promoted to VP and head of corporate affairs and communications. A 13-year veteran of the company, she succeeds David Barnes, VP of advertising and communications, who is retiring after 30 years with the company. Dineen-Duarte’s duties will include social media management and also public relations issues.

According to Amex Canada’s announcement, Dineen-Duarte’s role will be an “increasingly vital” one for the brand in a post-COVID world, with a focus on protecting its reputation and “capturing the trust and attention of today’s evolving consumer.”

Barnes’ role also included advertising duties, but given the importance Amex is placing on PR and comms, the financial services brand has split those duties off and handed them to Vanessa Crooker (bottom, right), who has been promoted to VP, enterprise loyalty and partnerships.

Formerly, a VP, marketing, merchant services, Crooker will drive Canada’s value diversification strategy, cultivating unique and relevant partner-sourced value, in addition to her duties on the loyalty front.

Amex’s most recent brand efforts have been centred around the Shop Small business support program, incentivizing cardmembers with credits when they spend up to $10 at participating small businesses.

Internally, the appointments also fit with Amex Canada’s goals to ensure the company is represented by women in leadership.

In a March of last year, Annette Kingsley, VP, market HR at Amex Canada, said women represented 56% of senior leadership roles, and also 71% of its board of directors. This is up from 53% and 57% from the year prior.

This year, Amex Canada was recognized for maintaining commitment to the brand’s “Women at Amex” strategy, which supports the development and advancement of female employees, and for the diverse range of colleague networks across the organization.